Complaints management mechanism: Ministry officials trained to handle the green line

Ten staff members and supervisors from the Communication Management Directorate of the Ministry of National Education and New Citizenship (DGC/EDU-NC) participated in a workshop on managing the hotline on March 4 and 5. This event, organized at the Sultani Hotel in Kinshasa by UNFPA and funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), helped strengthen the skills of professionals in the sector to better manage interactions related to reporting cases of gender-based violence in school settings. In addition to operators from the Ministry of Education and New Citizenship’s Allô École service, the workshop brought together staff from a private-sector provider, Congo Call Center. The workshop aimed to clarify concepts and different forms of gender-based violence, such as sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. The trainers emphasized the need to clearly define these concepts to better understand the issues related to this problem. Concrete strategies were also discussed to effectively address the needs of victims. Participants were trained to adopt the appropriate attitudes when handling calls from victims, incorporating the methods recommended by UNFPA. This helped open a dialogue on the expectations and responsibilities of hotline operators, which is essential for managing complaints related to gender-based violence. At the end of the workshop, all participants received a certificate attesting to their training and their commitment to combating this major issue. This initiative, in collaboration with partners such as KOICA, UNFPA, and UNDP, highlighted the importance of coordinated action to effectively support victims of gender-based violence, particularly in the education sector, which faces numerous challenges stemming from the Rwandan conflict. It should be noted that Allô-école is the hotline service of the MINEDU-NC Complaints Management Mechanism. Its toll-free number is 178, and through dedicated operators, it handles cases of sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment occurring in school settings. Dorcial Malenga