Democratic Republic of the Congo
While the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a country rich in resources, the country’s prospects for sustainable development are continually undermined by recurrent shocks and stresses, including protracted conflict, weak governance, disease outbreaks and numerous ecological factors.
Overview
In 2022, DRC had the largest number of people experiencing high food insecurity in the world, with about 26.4 million people — over 26% of the population — experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, and experts project the effects of food security and poverty to worsen over time without significant intervention. Multiple factors have aggravated the situation in the DRC, including conflict, stagnated economic development, dependence on food imports (DRC is a net food importer), Ebola and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Strengthening the country’s resilience thus requires a multisectoral approach where households and communities are supported through crowding in of donor resources, including humanitarian assistance, health, education, governance and economic growth activities. A systems approach is taken to build the resilience of service provisions and promote private sector solutions to existing development challenges.
Risk Environment
Conflict in the DRC creates the vast majority of humanitarian needs. Internally displaced people are the primary recipients of humanitarian aid. Disease outbreaks, pests, floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are among the other recurrent shocks that affect millions of households in the DRC. Increasing weather variability makes rainfall less predictable, and weak governance and chronic instability resulting from conflicts over access to land, resources and political power exacerbate these issues and hinder development. Millions of people face acute food insecurity and millions are internally displaced, damaging livelihoods and the communities’ social fabric. Marginalization of youth, women and Indigenous populations results in a lack of full economic participation and access to services and political representation. The heavy reliance on imported food makes the DRC highly vulnerable to global shocks in both food and fuel prices. The weak private sector, limited access to finance and inherently risky investment environment results in anemic economic growth.
Resilience Approach
The Government of the DRC developed a disaster risk reduction policy and the country’s current Poverty Reduction Strategy prioritizes climate adaptation and acknowledges the need for disaster risk management, including improving monitoring and forecasting capacity, and strengthening early warning systems and contingency planning.
Donors such as USAID are prioritizing resilience as a key operating principle across portfolios, and are supporting the Government of the DRC in its efforts to implement multiple strategies that increase resilience of households, communities and systems. USAID is working to layer, sequence and integrate activities, crowding in resources in areas that are recovering from conflict. In current conflict areas. donors continue to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance and address the displacement of conflict-affected populations.
International donor investments combine humanitarian assistance with peacebuilding, education, food security and health programs, including:
- Partnerships to facilitate peace and recovery through conflict mitigation and management.
- Interventions targeting youth who are vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups.
- Building economic opportunities and improved enabling environments, including within the agriculture sector.
- Village Savings and Loan Associations targeted at women to allow for savings and consumption smoothing during difficult times.
- Investments in health and education to allow for increased layering of donor-funded activities to improve resilience.
Capacity building of local governance institutions. - Investments in responsible mineral trade that are creating licit livelihood opportunities for artisanal miners.
- Programming to examine potential risks and disruptions to achieving results and design locally led solutions to mitigate and proactively address shocks and stressors.
Activities focused on knowledge transfer and infrastructure improvements help lay the groundwork for other resilience activities. Activities that build on existing strengths — such as strong social networks and social services delivered by religious institutions — also show promise.
Opportunities for Strengthening Resilience
Social capital is a proven, powerful source of resilience in a wide variety of contexts and consists of the reciprocal obligation networks that give people the ability to lean on each other during times of need. The weakness of local government institutions stands in contrast to the strength and permanence of faith-based and civil society organizations, as well as traditional community structures and social safety nets, particularly in rural areas. There are opportunities to strengthen these existing sources of resilience and foster new ones.
Related Resources
Democratic Republic of the Congo Resilience Factsheet
17 Jun 2022 - USAID
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has significant human capital and natural wealth: 68 percent of its population is under the age of 25 and its mineral reserves are worth an estimated $25 trillion.The DRC’s...
Resilience Rapid Learning Series
21 Sep 2021 - Resilience Evaluation, Analysis and Learning (REAL) Award
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Rapid Resilience Learning Brief: Leveraging Crisis Analysis Towards Resilience-Building Responses
01 Jul 2021 - USAID Center for Resilience, Mercy Corps and Resilience Evaluation, Analysis and Learning (REAL) Associate Award
The global rise in conflict-driven crises has reinforced the importance of long-term interventions that address humanitarian needs.
Insights into Implementing Recurrent Monitoring Surveys in USAID-funded Activities
24 Mar 2021, GMT -4 - Ernest Dube (Mercy Corps Democratic Republic of Congo) , Arno Bratz (Mercy Corps Uganda) , Tim Frankenberger (TANGO International) , Jill Scantlan (Mercy Corps)
Join REAL for a discussion on the practical aspects of planning and implementing a recurrent monitoring survey (RMS), featuring panelists from Mercy Corps and TANGO International with first-hand experience of...