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Boulevard du 30 Juin, Arret VodaCom, Gombe Division, Kinshasa.
The Collective of Youth Organizations for Solidarity in the Democratic Republic of Congo known as “COJESKI/DRC, is the grass-root national youth plat-form under the Civil Society, it is by nature a Human Rights Forum of various youth Non-Profit initiatives, and a Non-Governmental initiated in DRC. In 2021 was energized to help spearhead community driven development initiatives and enable needy community groups participate in integrated activities to achieve civic engagement, development, quality livelihood and be self-sustainable Development
The very first ideas to initiate this network started in 1993 and was trigged by the following events:
The Democratic Republic of Congo by then Zaire entered into the democratization process as the main model of governance, but also the country welcomed millions of refugees from neighboring countries mainly Rwanda and Burundi which also created various security challenges. The need for young people to participate play a civic role in the management of the country’s affairs became one among the aspiration of young people and in order to achieve this, the idea of creating this network emerged from a young student in Bukavu, South Kivu Province by the name of Fernandez Murhola.
As, he involved others and with the interest from various youth led initiatives, COJESKI was then became a legal entity in 2024 and focused on young people in South Kivu with the following activities: To empower the youth, to help them to get more organized, to advocate for their participation in decision making at all levels, to promote network among the young people and push for a youth agenda in DRC.
Unfortunately the current war we still have in DRC started in 1996 and forced many leaders of COJESKI to leave South Kivu Province towards Kinshasa, neighboring countries and seek asylum in many other countries. COJESKI from its creation was called “ Collectif des Organisations des Jeunes du Sud-Kivu » which means « Collective of Youth Organizations in South Kivu” COJESKI. In 2008 the Ageneral Asssembly held in Kinshasa adopted the resolution to make COJESKI a national youth network, and the following changes were introduced “Le Collectif des Organizations des Jeunes Solidaires du Congo-Kinshasa” which means “the Collective of Youth for Solidarity in Congo-Kinshasa (COJESKI-DRC), registered as a national NGO since 2003.
