Since our conception in 2007 and its founding in 2014, OHED has taught thousands of our neighbors and other citizens how to overcome poverty, hunger, conflicts and diseases through self-reliance programs. As each family learns these skills, they pass them on to their children as well as to others in their towns and villages. We mean here that all of our projects are based on self-reliance, not as simple charity acts. For instance, instead of giving food, we teach our communities how to work hard and get their own meals.
Education and vocational training opportunities play a critical role in skill development and employability. At OHED, the importance of vocational development training can largely be summed up as the difference between theoretical knowledge against practical skills. In non-vocational studies, OHED members often spend hours of their time exploring a variety of different subjects. Their class time tends to be only a few hours per week, as they spend many hours in their small library and on computers conducting research and writing reports that help them continue to build their theoretical knowledge in a variety of fields.
Even within their chosen disciplines, they often spend a significant amount of time exploring theories, ideas, and procedures used by other professionals in famous industries. Also, they have significant opportunities to actually put these ideas to work compared to students going through a normal education program.
The skills for work and vocational pathways are significantly limited for these members, as their theoretical knowledge does not have the work experience that helps them transit from a classroom study topic into their actual profession.
Implementation period: March 2020-July 2022
During this period, the association members have opened new offices in Panzi quarter (Bukavu town), Igoki, Misisi, Ngalula, Etumba, Lweba, Shabunda, Kamituga and Baraka. Since the conception of ideas in 2007 and official registrations in 2014 and 2020, the OHED activities focused much on environmental education and development programs on Baraka-Kagembe-Malingumu and Bukavu-Uvira-Kavumu-axes.
So, since March 2020, the members have been providing their efforts to get more plantations in the South Kivu province. The major purpose of this program is to help local communities get trained on the carpentry and sawing activities. Also, the opened centers will provide the visitors and/or foreigners with the opportunities to easily assess OHED activities, confirm its existence in the DR Congo, meet with the staff members and deal directly with the target programs on the ground.