DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO MINISTRY OF PLANNING Steering Committee for the Process of Development and Implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy PARTICIPATORY ANALYSIS OF POVERTY IN THE DRC NATIONAL REPORT Kinshasa, March 2006. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary………………………………………………………………..6 Introduction……………………………………………………………………… 10 0.1. PPA Objectives and Methodologies………………………………… 10 0.2. Legitimacy is key…………………………………………………… 11 0.3. People’s Participation ……………………………………………… 13 0.4. The PPA Helps Focus on a New Future…………………………… 14 0.5. Summary of chapters……………………………………………… … 15 Part One: Poverty in Everyday Life………………………… ……………… .. 17 Ch. 1 How People Define Poverty…………………………… ……………… 18 1.1. Poverty Themes……………………………………… ………………..22. 1.2. Impact of Poverty on Vulnerable groups……………… ………………23 1.3. Differences in the Perception of Poverty …… …… ………………26 1.4. Typologies of Poverty………………………………………………… .27 1.5. Summary……………………………………………………………… 29 Ch 2. National Priority Poverty Problems……………………………………….. 30 Access to basic quality infrastructure and Social Services………………….. 31 Access to transport and communication…………………………………….. 35 Food insecurity………………………………………………………………. 38 Insufficient agricultural production………………………………………… . 40 Low household income………………………………………………………..42 Unemployment……………………………………………………………… 46 Erosion and desertification……………………………………………………49 Insecurity of the population and property…………………………………… 51. Rights of women violated…………………………………………………… 54 Exclusion and marginalization of vulnerable groups………………………… 61 Poor governance……………………………………………………………… 66 Ch. 3 Living and surviving………………………………………………………… 71 3.1. Individual initiatives……………………………………………………… 71 3.2. Cooperative strategies…………………………………………………… 74 3.3. Partnership…………………………………………………………………75 Part Two: Poverty Analysis Based on the People’s Assessment…………………… 78 Ch. 4 Size and Scale of Poverty in the DRC………………………………………… 79 4.1. Key Results…………………………………………………………………79 4.2. Qualitative/Quantitative Data Sets………………………………………….82 4.3. Quantitative/Qualitative Measure……./.………………………………… 84 4.4. A Sectoral Measure ……………………………………………………… 86 4.5. A Multi-dimensional Measure…………………………………………… 87 4.6. Conclusions Concerning Size and Scale………………………………… 93 Ch. 5 Dynamics and Patterns of Poverty…………………………………………… .94 5.1. Discerning the Dynamics of Poverty……………………………………… 95 5.2. Defining Patterns of Poverty……………………………………………… 96. 5.3. How Poverty Works……………………………………………………… 105. Participatory Poverty Analysis, DRC, March, 2006 2 - 2 - 2005 3 Part Three: Poverty Analysis Implications………………………………………… 107. Ch. 6. Key Priorities and Strategies for Effective Poverty Reduction…………… 108 6.1. Principles of Prioritization………………………………………………… 110 6.2. PPA Process for Effective Program Design and Implementation……………112 6.3. Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation for Downward Accountability……117 6.4. Risks and Opportunities…………………………………………………… 121 Participatory Poverty Analysis, DRC, March, 2006 3 - 3 - 2005 4 PRINCIPAL ACRONYMS AFDL = Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo/Zaire IGA = Income-Generating Activities NPO = Non-Profit Organization CNECI = Caisse Nationale d’Epargne et de Crédit Immobilier PPA = Participatory Poverty Analysis ARV = Anti-Retroviral drugs PRSD = Poverty Reduction Strategy Document FAO = Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FARDC = Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo STI = Sexually Transmitted Infection APRM = Accelerated Participatory Research Method MICS 2 = Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2001) or survey by clusters with multiple indicators (conducted in 2001) MDG = Millenium Development Goals NGO = Non-Governmental Organization ONL = National Housing Office SMEs = Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises UNDP = United Nations Development Programme VP = Vulnerable Person PLWHA = People Living With HIV/AIDS RCD = Congolese Alliance for Democracy DRC = Democratic Republic of Congo RTNC = Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise SENAREC = Secrétariat National de Renforcement de Capacités PM&E = Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome SNCC = Société Nationale de Chemin de Fer du Congo SNEL = Service National d’Electricité SOPPPOC = Public Opinion Survey on the Perception of Poverty by the Congolese Participatory Poverty Analysis, DRC, March, 2006 4 - 4 - 2005 5 PREAMBLE In North Kivu province, one man gave this description of poverty: he shares with the children and animals and eats alone. In the territory of Kabare in South Kivu, the people declared: “poverty is rooted in the inability to go to the doctor, to sleeping in houses full of old bed linens and to difficulties eating, usually only once a day and very late at night.” In the Yolo district in Kinshasa, one participant told us the following: “I have 5 children. There are only two who attend school because with my little bit of poultry farming, I am unable to send all of my children to school." Another person added: Out of the three children that I have, there is only one who goes to school and it is very difficult to manage that. Another went further, saying: "I have 5 children. They are all at home. They do not attend school because we do not have the means to send them." In Katanga province, one participant explained that, since the health center and hospital were 37 km from his village, his sick wife died on the way to the hospital. A resident of Bukavu reported: “Our district, especially the street where the land bank is (Keredi), is poorly lit and it is very unsafe. Armed men, sometimes in uniform, disturb the people at night (extortion, theft from houses targeted in advance, murders…).” Entire populations live in isolation compared to the rest of the country because the area where they live is inaccessible due to the advanced state of deterioration of the roads and the absence of mass media, as the people of Kimvula in Bas-Congo emphasized. This situation keeps these populations in a state of poverty, preventing them from exporting or importing products. Public servants are bribed and incarcerated for complaining to the administrative authorities of injustices subjected to and verdicts rendered by incompetent judges. Participatory Poverty Analysis, DRC, March, 2006 5 - 5 - 2005 6 Executive Summary A Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) was launched in 2004 as part of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s efforts to create a national ‘Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper’ (PRSP). Because the PPA’s coverage was one of the DRC’s most extensive survey efforts---including all eleven provinces, 94 of its 95 territories, 470 local sites, and involving more than 35,750 people and groups in a participatory analysis of poverty---the PPA information is now an important national resource. Designed for policy and program use, this PPA Report ensures that the government can effectively hear and act on the voices of the Congo people. If local communities, NGO’s and different groupings of civil society see that their assessments, as discussed in this Participatory Poverty Assessment, are actually reflected in the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, it will generate much needed legitimacy and social enforcement for peace stabilization and the national poverty program initiatives. This PPA Report is divided into three parts. Part one presents the information and analysis about poverty that the Congolese people shared and defined for themselves during the participatory consultations. This includes the problems created by poverty but also includes identification of how people use their capacities and organizations to cope and sometimes prevail. Part two uses the information and analysis presented by the PPA participants to develop a national analysis of poverty. Part three identifies key priorities and strategies, based on the analysis, for national and local poverty reduction. Four key analyses explaining poverty in the DRC are presented and discussed in this PPA report. 1. The characteristics of poverty in the DRC---tangible and intangible--- are defined by people across the country, and placed in useful typologies. 2. Based on the above PPA participant analysis, the size and scale of poverty in the DRC is preliminarily defined, with different sub-groups effectively distinguished within the larger group of poor people. This allows definition of a flexible and dynamic poverty line. 3. Eleven priority problems of poverty are identified and analyzed by people and groups across the country. These eleven problems, like the characteristics of poverty, feature both tangible and intangible factors that are extremely inter-connected. 4. Based on the PPA participant analysis of the priority problems, three dynamics that drive the process of impoverishment in the Congo are identified, and six patterns of poverty are defined. Analysis of these dynamics and pattern allows definition of strategic priorities that address more than one problem at once. Participatory Poverty Analysis, DRC, March, 2006 6 - 6 - 2005 7 Results of the PPA analysis indicate that poverty in the Congo is multi-dimensional, complex, and to an interesting extent, the formulation of poverty is unique to the DRC as a country. So, how do households in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) respond when confronted with war, collapse of work and productivity, and difficulty in meeting basic life needs? What is the reality behind national statistics that tell us ten years after this multiple crisis began, 73% to 90% of the population are now classified as