Supporting civic participation of grassroots communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The training sessions for grass-roots trainers were largely one-offs. The failure to build on these sessions made it difficult to assess the extent to which participants had understood and were able to use the knowledge imparted to them. The same applies to the guided tours to the offices of local administrations, and therefore it is unclear if participants acquired a sufficient understanding of administrative processes to conduct lobbying or other activities.

Gender issues were not addressed substantially during the training sessions, though there were general references to the need for women to play a greater role in governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The grantee’s analysis of the country’s democratic deficit had also failed to identify women’s participation in political decision-making processes.

Whereas many women joined the project’s newly established Democratic Action Clubs (DACs), few of them were among DAC coordinators and none among DAC leaders. The grantee was aware of this issue, which it said had cultural roots. However, the project itself did not address this problem proactively – it could have for instance required DACs to elect an equal number of men and women coordinators.

Members of the project’s Democratic Action Clubs (DACs) have more awareness of their rights and are more likely to identify future abuses of power by the administration. The project also resulted in participants being better informed about legal remedies available to them. Elected officials who took part in public debates noted that some DAC members had boldly and publicly criticized police violence and corruption.

The efficient use of resources was complemented by good project management. The grantee’s project team was competent and motivated, and appropriately supervised by the grantee’s President, who was himself answerable to the organization’s board.

Public debates were broadcast on radio and TV enhancing the visibility of citizens’ access and participation beyond the advocacy originally planned.

The project’s strategic design took into account lessons learned from a previous project, which on a smaller scale, had been funded by the European Union. The project addressed a proven capacity building need, and appropriately also involved local politicians from a range of parties.