What if you could have the nimbleness and impact that only comes with experienced local knowledge paired with modern values?

AGIR-RDC (commonly referred to as AGIR) was founded in 2016 by a group of _ but become operational in its current form in spring 2021. The original staff had spent time at several previous NGOs experiencing the good and the bad. They saw the dividends that come from a culture of inclusiveness and openness AND a focus beyond reacting to just downstream needs. They also witnessed how mediocrity, or worse, ensued when those values were compromised—leaving the salient conclusion that the full potential of progressive culture and Congolese-centered approaches had yet to be unlocked. The core team’s shared experience together at two other Congolese NGOs gave them a clear vision of the uncommon culture they wanted to role model in the NGO space and the impact they wanted to forge. Thus, AGIR became the vehicle for the next iteration in Congolese excellence and impact.

The team assembled at AGIR specializes in empowering vulnerable and victimized populations. AGIR aims to take populations that are subject to the whims of their circumstances and steward them to a position where they are not only stable but actors in their own communities. Eastern Congo provides many obstacles to that path—conflict, abject poverty, patriarchy, cultures obedient to customary authority, cultural stigma to victimization. Yet, the individuals behind AGIR have previously worked to train and empower over 1400 vulnerable women in the past nine years. Today, over 900 of those women are entrepreneurs or have found employment, bringing them and their family not only financial security but also offering a position of influence in their community. Many others have gone on to pursue university.

Our team members recognize that they might have helped build that pathway to empowerment, but it was walked solely by the courageous Congolese women. Empowerment is a partnership. AGIR strives to blur the line between benefactor and beneficiary. Part of empowerment is the dignity that comes with being respected equals.

Our team members are well-versed in a holistic approach to empowerment. It is not just training in a vocation. It requires entrepreneurial training, general education, hygiene and family planning education, reintegration into their community after stigmatization, mediating with community elders about the reintegration of a person, and even daycare for the children of a person that is taking the time to invest in themselves. AGIR is composed of people that have refined that approach in other organizations and are now seeking to grow its impact in a dynamic organization.