Five pillars, deliberately interconnected
Education, environment, agriculture, health and livelihoods are not run as five separate charities under one roof — each is designed to make the other four more effective.
Education & Youth Capacity Building
Equipping young people with the knowledge, skills and leadership platforms to drive change in their own communities.
Explore the programNature Protection & Biodiversity Conservation
Protecting and restoring the Congo Basin's ecosystems around Virunga through community-led conservation.
Explore the programSustainable Agriculture & Food Security
Building climate-resilient, food-secure communities through regenerative farming and agro-ecology.
Explore the programCommunity Health & Well-Being
Promoting holistic health for vulnerable communities, with particular attention to women and children.
Explore the programSocio-Economic Empowerment & Livelihoods
Opening pathways out of poverty through skills training, enterprise support and economic inclusion.
Explore the programA cycle, not a checklist
Read the five pillars below in order and you will see the logic: each one feeds the next, and the fifth feeds back into the first.
Education & Youth
Trains the leaders who go on to run demonstration farms, health-volunteer teams and savings cooperatives.
Nature & Biodiversity
Protects the land and forest base that food security and clean water depend on.
Agriculture & Food Security
Turns a protected, healthy landscape into a reliable household food supply.
Health & Well-Being
Keeps the household well enough to study, farm and work at full capacity.
Livelihoods
Converts skills and stability into income — which in turn funds the next generation's education.
Rooted in Goma, reaching into the communities around Virunga
Every program is anchored in Goma and the communities along the edge of Virunga National Park — chosen because that is where conservation pressure, food insecurity and displacement overlap most directly.
As programs mature and local leadership teams are trained, we look to extend proven models to additional communities rather than launch new pillars from scratch.
See how we decide where to workWhy here, specifically
Eastern DRC combines acute humanitarian need with one of the planet's most biodiverse landscapes — which is exactly why conservation and community development have to be designed together here, not separately.
Pick a pillar, or support all five
You do not need to choose between funding a forest and funding a classroom — with ACV, supporting one program strengthens the rest.
Volunteer your skills
Share your expertise with ACV's youth teams — from agronomy to graphic design, remote or on the ground.
Get involvedPartner with us
NGOs, foundations and institutions: co-design a program, fund a pillar, or join a technical partnership.
Start a conversationSupport the work
Every contribution funds tree nurseries, school materials, clinic supplies and farmer training kits.
Ways to give