A woman learns tailoring skills at the vocational training and residential school called New Hope Academy.
Our Priorities
Congo Peace focuses on these main priorities:
1. Reconciliation
Jesus teaches the message of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation in the Bible. We support the work of our grantee New Hope Reconciliation Center as they teach the Gospel of loving your neighbor and offer opportunities for all tribes to live, learn, work and play together with others. Through these efforts, we pray that the hostile tribes will forgive one another, reconcile, and unite in one community.​
2. Vocational Training For a Sustainable Future​
Our vocational training work for a sustainable future is in two locations of South Kivu. It started in the rural community of Minembwe in the highlands of South Kivu and expanded to Kavumu, near the capital Bukavu. In Kavumu at New Hope Academy - a residential vocational school, students learn skills for a sustainable livelihood, along with Christian education focused on reconciliation. In Minembwe, vocational classes are offered in agribusiness, as well as multiple opportunities for small business coops for women and youth.
The New Hope Academy near Bukavu is a residential vocational school and educational center.
The Community Center serves many purposes and provides the tribes a common place to come together in peace and reconciliation.
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​​​Breaking the Cycle of Poverty in Minembwe
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The Minembwe region, along with the entire South Kivu province, is a multi-tribal community that has lost so much over the years – lives, homes, livestock, etc. The region has little existing infrastructure and opportunities for training and work are limited. Our focus is on providing the tools needed to recover from the damage they have suffered so that they can rebuild their community and provide for themselves, trusting in their future to be safe and healthy.
The community center was completed in June 2022. Built on land donated by the Minembwe community leaders, the center has served as a gathering place for worshipping, learning, and working. In 2026, the center began offering training in agribusiness for young men and women. At times, it has provided shelter to 50 orphans, provided vocational training for nearly 100 widows and men, and been a refuge for many in times of conflict.
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Empowering Youth to Reconcile and Build Skills to Thrive in Kavumu
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​To the north, New Hope Academy is a vocational school and educational center that provides a residential training program where young people from historically hostile tribes live and learn together. Along with entrepreneurship and leadership training, boys and girls learn trades in an environment of Christian reconciliation. In 2025, the first students graduated with skills in hospitality/catering and in tailoring. In 2026, students train in plumbing and welding.
3. Emergency Relief
When we started the ministry, we first focused on emergency relief. When people are starving and living without basic needs, it is hard to focus on forgiveness and reconciliation. Therefore, we have provided emergency food and nutritional supplements to people in several villages, with special emphasis on children and pregnant and nursing mothers. We also provided opportunities for tribes to plant crops together, sowing the seed and harvesting the crops with one another, and then sharing equally in the harvest. Food security and undernourishment are daily challenges of villagers affected by ongoing violence and persecution. People work side by side with different tribes to plant crops that will help feed their families for years to come.
