One Face, Dozens of Merits | From Survival To Governance

A framed portrait of Liberata Rubumba, peace mediator and community leader from Rutshuru, North Kivu, is displayed alongside certificates of recognition at her office in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, on April 16, 2026.

The certificates including one issued by CAFED and the weathered photograph bearing her name speak to a career built not on institutional platforms but on the hard, daily work of community reconciliation, survivor support, and peace education in a territory that has been one of the epicenters of armed violence in eastern DRC for three decades.

For Rubumba, now 63 and a former territorial administrator, each certificate represents not personal accolade but collective testimony proof that the women and communities of Rutshuru have refused to surrender their dignity to conflict, even when the world was not watching.