Our Collection
Explore our handpicked artworks
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Mary BALIKUNGERI | From Survival To Governance
Mary Balikungeri is a Rwandan human rights defender, peacebuilder, and advocate for gender justice. Following the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, she founded the Rwanda Women’s Network to support survivors and help rebuild communities affected by violence and trauma. Having experienced displacement herself as a refugee during her childhood, Mary dedicated her life to fighting injustice, ending gender-based violence, and promoting women’s leadership. Through initiatives such as the Polyclinic of Hope, she created safe spaces where women could heal, access psychosocial support, rebuild their lives, and become leaders within their communities. Her work combines trauma healing, economic empowerment, peacebuilding, and advocacy, with a strong focus on women’s participation in social transformation and reconciliation. Today, she also serves as Chairperson of the Africa Network of Women Shelters, continuing to advance women’s rights and community resilience across the region.
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Faulestine MUTSINDU | From Survival To Governance
Faulestine Mutsindu is a Congolese social activist and coordinator of FIPROS in North Kivu, dedicated to advancing women’s empowerment and grassroots peacebuilding in conflict-affected communities. She works to strengthen community Elders and Ambassadors for Peace,” she supports community-based conflict prevention and fosters social resilience by promoting women’s leadership in peace processes, facilitating dialogue, and addres singchallenges such as hate speech and social fragmentation. Through her involvement in initiatives like MONUSCO’s “Women cohesion. She also engages youth in civic action, encouraging participation, responsibility, and non-violence as foundations for sustainable peace. ©Isaac Bujirwa | Sote Pamoja DRC & FCRJ London
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Every Sack, a Step Forward | From Survival To Governance
Faulestine Mutsindu, coordinator of FIPROS, handles bags of sweet potato flour in a production warehouse in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 27, 2026. Through FIPROS, she established income-generating programs focused on the production and sale of sweet potato flour, an activity they had been carrying out from the Masisi territory. This provided women survivors of the conflict with a path to economic independence until the war forced them to flee to Goma, where they also welcomed widows and women facing difficulties in their homes. In a region where the United Nations estimates that more than 25 million people face severe food insecurity, these community initiatives represent both an act of survival and a form of resistance. ©Isaac Bujirwa | Sote Pamoja DRC & FCRJ London
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Dr. Elisabeth MISHIKA | From Survival To Governance
Dr. Elisabeth Mishika, founder of the Fondation Elisabeth Mishika (FEM), presents early detection protocols for breast cancer during a community awareness session organized by her foundation in Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 21, 2026. Behind her, a projected slide reads: "Prendre soin de ses seins Agir tôt"Take care of your breasts, act early. Through FEM's dedicated treatment center, Dr. Mishika has provided free care to more than 500 women, creating a sanctuary of healing in a region where conflict and poverty have made access to cancer screening nearly impossible. Globally, breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women, with Sub-Saharan Africa recording some of the highest mortality rates due to late diagnosis and limited healthcare infrastructure. ©Isaac Bujirwa | Sote Pamoja DRC & FCRJ London
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What These Hands Have Built | From Survival To Governance
Faulestine Mutsindu, coordinator of FIPROS, holds dried sweet potato pieces used in the flour production process in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 27, 2026. The sweet potato flour program she has developed through FIPROS transforms a locally available crop into a source of income, nutrition, and dignity for women survivors of conflict in eastern DRC a region where decades of armed violence have systematically dismantled livelihoods and pushed women-headed households into extreme vulnerability. International advocates say such survivor-centered economic models remain critically underfunded despite their proven impact. ©Isaac Bujirwa | Sote Pamoja DRC & FCRJ London
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Her Own Market, Her Own Peace | From Survival To Governance
Faulestine Mutsindu, coordinator of FIPROS, tends to her small shop in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 27, 2026. Beyond her humanitarian and peacebuilding work, Mutsindu herself embodies the resilience she advocates for managing her own small business while simultaneously coordinating community-based conflict prevention, youth civic engagement, and women's leadership programs across North Kivu. Her dual role as activist and entrepreneur reflects a broader truth that women in eastern DRC are not passive victims of conflict but active builders of their own futures, even in the most adverse conditions. ©Isaac Bujirwa | Sote Pamoja DRC & FCRJ London