Nelly Mbangu

Nelly Mbangu is a Congolese women's and children's rights campaigner. She co-founded a movement to bring together 30 organisations with similar aims under title Sauti ya Mama Mukongomani (Voice of Congolese Women). She is a woman human rights defender and the coordinator of the Help and Action for Piece - Aide et Action pour la Paix (AAP). Additionally Help and Action for Piece - Aide et Action pour la Paix (AAP) works on good governance topics and resolution of land rights disputes.

Career Nelly Mbangu campaigns for the rights of women and children in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo. One of her main aims is to teach children that women can have important roles beyond the kitchen. In 2000 Mbangu welcomed the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which increased the involvement of women in UN peace and security missions; she had seen at first hand how blockages in access to services had impacted on women in refugee camps.

Mbangu is a co-founder and president of the Dynamique des femmes jurists (DFJ) a non-governmental organisation that works to raise awareness of women's rights issues in Eastern Congo. DFJ seeks to provide legal advice to women and to improve their access to justice. DFJ also provides financial aid, psychological care and social services to survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

Mbangu also helped to set-up Sauti ya Mama Mukongomani (Voice of Congolese Women), a "women's movement for peace and security" that brings together 30 of the leading women's organisations in the Congo.

Mbangu and Bintou Keita attended when Micheline Ombae who was the Minister for Gender opened an exhibition in Kinshasa in September 2025. It was titled "Cross-perspectives: Congolese women in the spotlight" and it was an international exhibition for peace as there was a similar exhibition in New York.

In December 2025, she was awarded the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law.