Citizens’ Voice and Accountability Democratic Republic of Congo Country Case Study Final Report March 2008 Belgium – Federal Public Department for Authors: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Cooperation for Development – Special Evaluation Service Pierre Grega (S04) Sabine Garbarino Sweden – Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – SIDA – Department for Georges Tshionza Mata Evaluation and internal Audit Manuel Eggen 1 CV&A Evaluation – CCS DRC – Final Report – March 2008. Contents Contents __________________________________________________________________ 2 Executive summary _________________________________________________________ 4 Abbreviations _____________________________________________________________ 10 Part 1: Introduction ________________________________________________________ 13 Part 2: Methodology________________________________________________________ 15 2.1. General context of the evaluation__________________________________________ 15 2.2. Inception phase_________________________________________________________ 15 2.3. Main evaluation phase___________________________________________________ 18 2.4 Feedback on evaluation framework ________________________________________ 20 Part 3: Context of CV&A ____________________________________________________ 21 3.1. The socioeconomic context _______________________________________________ 21 3.2. The political context_____________________________________________________ 22 3.3. The institutional context: from the Transition to democratic elections ___________ 23 3.4. Good governance: the challenge of development _____________________________ 24 3.5. Civil society____________________________________________________________ 26 3.6. The context of foreign aid ________________________________________________ 27 Part 4: Findings ___________________________________________________________ 30 4.1. Enabling environment ___________________________________________________ 30 4.2. Institutional, organisational and individual capacities_________________________ 36 4.3. V&A channels__________________________________________________________ 39 4.4. Change in policy, practice, behaviour and power relations_____________________ 43 4.5. Broader development outcomes ___________________________________________ 47 Part 5: Conclusions/ lessons learnt ____________________________________________ 49 5.1. Question 1: Channels, mechanisms and processes ____________________________ 49 5.2. Question 2: results and outcomes __________________________________________ 52 5.3. Question 3: Pathways to broader development outcomes ______________________ 53 5.4. Question 4: V&A and aid effectiveness _____________________________________ 54 Part 6: Recommendations ___________________________________________________ 55 6.1. On the overall approaches to V&A ________________________________________ 55 6.2. On operational issues____________________________________________________ 56 6.3. On policy dialogue ______________________________________________________ 58 ANNEXES _______________________________________________________________ 60 Annex A: Terms Of References _______________________________________________ 61 Annex B: Methodology _____________________________________________________ 70 1. General context of evaluation _______________________________________________ 70 2 CV&A Evaluation – CCS DRC – Final Report – March 2008. 2. Inception phase___________________________________________________________ 71 3. Main evaluation phase _____________________________________________________ 78 4. Feedback on evaluation framework __________________________________________ 82 Annex C: Analysis of Context ________________________________________________ 83 1. Profile of DRC ___________________________________________________________ 83 2. Historic perspective: from dictatorship and war… to peace and democratic stability _ 83 3. The socioeconomic context _________________________________________________ 86 4. The institutional context ___________________________________________________ 90 The transition period _________________________________________________________________ 90 The new institutions emerging from the elections___________________________________________ 92 5. Good governance: the challenge of development _______________________________ 93 6. Civil society at the centre of development _____________________________________ 95 7. The context of aid in DRC __________________________________________________ 98 The 1980s: aid coordination ___________________________________________________________ 99 The 1990s: the political context________________________________________________________ 101 The 21st century: the resumption of international aid _______________________________________ 102 Annex D: Interventions Summary Sheets ______________________________________ 108 Annex D1: Support to Radio Okapi _____________________________________________ 108 Annex D2: Support for Institutions de la Transition – AIT __________________________ 113 Annex D3: Capacity building to actors involved in organisation of democratic, credible and transparent elections – EISA ___________________________________________________ 121 Annex D4: Supporting Congo’s Transition Towards Sustainable Peace - Search for Common Ground/Centre Lokolé ________________________________________________________ 126 Annex D5: Initiative for joint work in the leadership and State cohesion (ILCCE) - Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. ________________________________________ 132 Annex D6: Breaking the links between natural resource exploitation, conflict and corruption in the DRC – Global Witness ___________________________________________________ 137 Annex D7: Supporting the National Council for NGOs Active in the Development Sector (CNONGD) _________________________________________________________________ 142 Annex D8: Capacity building Programme for trade union - Congolese Trade Union Confederation (CSC) _________________________________________________________ 148 Annex D9: Strengthening the rule of law and restoration of justice in the City of Kinshasa and the Provinces of Bas-Congo and Bandundu _______________________________________ 154 Annex D10: Support programme for development initiatives in the Communities of Kisenso and Kimbanseke (PAIDECO-Kin) ______________________________________________ 159 Annex E: List of people consulted/interviewed__________________________________ 165 Annex F: Interview guides__________________________________________________ 171 Annex G: Documents consulted _____________________________________________ 175 Case Studies documentation __________________________________________________________ 178 3 CV&A Evaluation – CCS DRC – Final Report – March 2008. Executive summary Within the context of a comparative evaluation carried out in 5 countries1, the objective of the DRC case study was the analysis of pertinence and the results of a sample series of ten operations geared towards reinforcing Voice and Accountability (V&A) which can be seen as constituent element of governance in the broad sense, implies the existence of actors that are able to make their preferences, opinions and views heard on the one hand and the ability of the governing bodies (such as the state) to act transparently and respond to such appeals on the other. Using the framework developed by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) this country case study aims to contribute to the following overall objective of the joint evaluation: - An improved understanding of CVA among development partners by mapping and documenting their approaches and strategies for enhancing CVA in a variety of country contexts and to learn lessons on which approaches have worked best, where and why. - An assessment of the effects of a range of donor CVA interventions on governance and on aid effectiveness and whether these effects are sustainable. 1. Findings The Democratic Republic of Congo is generally regarded as a (very) bad example in terms of governance. The long period of dictatorship, armed hostilities of international origins, internal conflicts and violence and corruption have made a mockery of all the indicators of good governance, transparency and respect for human rights. However, in spite of such a dark recent past, following its stabilisation in 2003, the DRC has embarked on a process of political reconstruction which has progressively, if only very partially, come to involve all the constituent foundations of democracy and the state of law, including fundamental laws, free elections, freedom and regulation of the media, the restoration of justice, reforms in the security sector, freedom of assembly, the participation of the people, and so on. Enabling environment In spite of the fragility of the state, which is only just emerging from a very long period of crisis, the V&A support operations carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo were able to take advantage of a number of opportunities. The most important of these are political first and foremost: - the Lusaka ceasefire and Global and Inclusive Agreement of Pretoria offer a minimum level of stability and regional security and provide a precise definition for the political institutions in a period of transition and the means of involving the different actors in the implementation process; - the determination of the international community to see DRC emerge from its state of crisis. Other opportunities are of a more internal nature within Congolese society: - the eagerness