Women and girls
Unequal access to school, violence, early marriage and sexual corruption.
Gender equality and social inclusion (GESI)
Integrity that leaves no one behind
Corruption hits hardest those that institutions listen to least. We build gender equality and social inclusion into all our work – research, project design, citizen monitoring and advocacy.
Why it matters
Inclusion is a governance issue
When a public service has to be paid for with a bribe, those who cannot pay go without: the poorest families, girls kept out of school, people living with a disability, displaced families. Corruption turns every inequality into an exclusion.
It also takes forms that target the most exposed: sexual corruption – sex demanded in exchange for a grade, a job or a service – and the abuse of people who dare not complain because they fear discrimination or reprisals.
An anti-corruption programme that does not reach these people leaves their problems unseen and unsolved. That is why we design our work for, and with, the people most at risk of being left behind.
80%
of the students surveyed at a CERC workshop at the Pan-African University of Kinshasa said they had faced an attempt at sexual corruption (2024)
1
monitor living with a disability in one school could attend club meetings but not field visits – a barrier our learning report asks us to remove (2021)
Who we want to reach
People most at risk of being left behind
People living with a disability
Physical and communication barriers to services, to school and to taking part in monitoring.
People living with albinism
Stigma, discrimination and insecurity that cut them off from school, health care and justice.
LGBTQI+ people
Discrimination and fear of reporting abuse, and exclusion from the services they are entitled to.
Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities
Limited access to land, school, health care and justice, and little say in the decisions that affect them.
Displaced and refugee families
Schools and health centres occupied or destroyed, and aid that does not always reach them.
Out-of-school and at-risk children and youth
Young people pushed out of school by fees, poverty or work, who are the first to lose out.
Rural and poor communities
Far from services and from those in charge, they pay the heaviest price for petty corruption.
Our GESI approach
What our commitment means in practice
- 1
Analyse
Every project starts with a gender and social inclusion analysis of who is excluded and why; Year Zero of Education Out Loud produced CERC’s GESI strategy (2021).
- 2
Include
Girls and boys, students at risk of exclusion and young people living with a disability take part in the Integrity Clubs, with roles and responsibilities, not as beneficiaries only.
- 3
Make it accessible
Meetings, trainings and monitoring visits are planned so that everyone can take part: place, time, transport, language and format.
- 4
Protect
Monitors and participants are protected from harassment, sexual exploitation and reprisals, with training and a confidential way to report incidents.
- 5
Count everyone
We collect and publish data broken down by sex, age and disability, and our apps let citizens report anonymously.
- 6
Work with those concerned
We partner with organisations led by women, young people, people living with a disability and LGBTQI+ people, and give them a voice in our decisions.
What we have done
Results
4
monitors living with a disability now speak up for their communities
396
girls trained as community monitors in South Kivu
44
students at risk of exclusion active in Integrity Clubs
40%
of Integrity Club members are girls
70%
of local authorities more responsive to girls and excluded young people
- A gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) strategy written during Year Zero of Education Out Loud (2021).
- Youth Excel: an issue-based collaborative network (ICON) of 10 youth organisations in Kinshasa, including one led by LGBTQI people and two led by people living with disabilities; training of young members and CERC staff in gender equality and social inclusion (2022).
- REPLIC: integrity clubs in 4 universities of Kinshasa with as many women as men and 30% marginalised or under-represented students (2024).
Our commitments
How we hold ourselves to account
We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or social status, and we work to alleviate intersecting forms of discrimination – in our programmes and within our own organisation.
We report on our results, our difficulties and what we learn in our reports and in what we are learning.
To report discrimination, harassment or abuse linked to our work, contact us in confidence.