In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we partnered with Julienne Lusenge and the organizations she leads, SOFEPADI and The Congolese Fund for Women, to create a podcast series called Wamama Tujenge (Women Building Peace).
Julienne Lusenge is a tireless campaigner for justice, peace and gender equality in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her work has been recognised on the global stage many times. Most recently she received the 2021 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity and the International Women of Courage Award from the US Department of State and the 2019 Geneva Summit International Women’s Rights Award. She has also been awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by the French Government and the Ginetta Sagan Award from Amnesty International.
Julienne has briefed the United Nations Security Council twice on the issues of women, peace, and security in the Congo.
Julienne heads the Fund for Congolese Women, a women’s fund supporting grassroots women’s initiatives, and SOFEPADI, a non-profit established in 2000 focused on women’s and family rights.
Julienne Lusenge, Founder of Congolese Women’s Fund and SOFEPADI, and Executive Producer of Wamama Tujenge.
With a grant from Millicom Foundation we created a lively, studio-produced podcast series called Wamama Tujenge (Women Building Peace) featuring Julienne interviewing women change makers in the DRC.
“After listening to the podcast, the women of the area (greater Kinshasa- where there has been shooting recently) denounced the night incursions and wrote a letter to the commander of the Congolese National Police to increase their efforts for peace.”
The Wamama Tujenge podcasts can be stored on mobile phones and are easily and freely shared via Bluetooth transfer, creating a “peer-to-peer” public service broadcasting network.
When starting this project we first flew DRC broadcast journalist Jeanne Mbweki Kibuo to Sierra Leone to work with our team in understanding our innovative approach to building communication networks. Following this, Jeanne organized the establishment of 15 Listening Centers in three regions of the DRC to test our distribution method, and we are beginning to test the further production of the Wamama Tujenge podcast by local journalists.
Listen to Julienne Lusenge on our SoundCloud channel or click below.
This original audio podcast, “Wamama Tujenge,” hosted by celebrated human rights activist Julienne Lusenge, began in November 2017, reaching over 20 million listeners across the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) national and community radio network.
