Sexual violence is a daily reality for many women living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, often called the "Rape Capital of the World." One non-governmental organization is taking a multi-faceted approach to prevent these types of incidents, incorporating radio, TV, and theater to reach the DRC's military, resulting in a decline in reports of gender-based crime among troops.

John Marks, president and founder of Search for Common Ground, visited U.S. Africa Command, May 13, 2011, to brief senior leaders and staff members on the SFCG's programs and engagements, specifically those geared towards reducing sex and gender-based violence in the DRC.

SFCG is an organization dedicated to transforming how the world deals with conflict through media initiatives and working with local partners in government and civil society. Its staff members have been represented in the DRC for the past five years, spread out among seven offices throughout the country.

Marks talked about how they use popular media to reach people, especially FARDC (Forces Armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo) soldiers, in a way that more traditional methods cannot.

"The idea is to train them in a way that they can be instructors in preventing violence against women and in observing human rights in a way that any army in the world should be doing," Marks said.

One method the SFCG uses is to film testimonies of women talking about their rape experiences and show these films throughout the country via "mobile cinemas," requiring only a generator, screen, and projector. The films are shown to thousands of people at a time, both men and women, and including soldiers, who are then encouraged to take the microphone and tell their own experiences in front of the group. Marks said it serves as a group psychological process for the community and the region. Through these films, the SFCG has reached a total of 600,000 people.

The organization also has created a reality TV series focusing on local people solving problems and helping community members. For instance, in one episode, young social activists helped children who were born because of rapes to get registered. These children are normally not recognized as legal citizens by the DRC government.

"Most reality TV as you see in the United States is about elimination. We try to do it inclusively. Our whole premise of reality TV is that it's about people making a difference. We're showing that there are solutions and also that people can make a difference. We are trying to create a culture where impunity is not OK, where there's a lot of effort to try to make this less frequent."

They have filmed 39 reality TV episodes as of May 2011.

SFCG also uses radio programming, music videos, soap operas, and even participatory theater to reach audiences across spectrums and change behavior. According to Marks, the organization has theater troops that develop plays about sexual violence and bring in FARDC soldiers to play the parts. They have made an arrangement with the FARDC to train its units through these creative means. So far, they have reached 25 percent of FARDC soldiers, but Marks said he wants to get to 100 percent.

Surveys distributed in communities around the DRC have shown significant progress since the implementation of these programs. More than 90 percent of people who responded to the surveys have noted improvement in the behavior of troops.

U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy, Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes, told Marks he sees the goals of the SFCG as similar to those of AFRICOM.

"I was struck by how [the SFCG] overlaps so much with the stated articulated mantra of U.S. Africa Command in terms of sustained engagement," said Holmes. "The first item in the approach is making long term commitments using an integrated approach, becoming engaged in order to see the possibilities, become immersed in local culture--all of these things we say we're going to do in the past 3 and a half years as a formal Africa Command."