Strengthening governance through civil society

After decades of violence, the DRC faces an immense challenge in terms of maintaining stability and developing good governance, free of the corruption, extortion, malpractice and non-performance of the past. This will require years of reform to the Congo’s neglected public institutions and a strong civil society that can hold the government to account. But after years of being forced into a state-substitution role, Congolese civil society often reflects many of the same characteristics of the divided society it comes from. For the continued transition to peace, there has to be a concomitant development of the awareness and practice of the watchdog role of civil society over the administration of the state and to protect the rights of all citizens.

Alert currently works with Congolese partners to contribute to a new political culture in the post-transition era which emphasises inclusiveness and accountability. We support watchdog civil society organisations in Kinshasa and in the East, and strengthen their capacity to scrutinise government administration. In Kinshasa we work with GAT (Groupe d’Actions de Citoyens pour la Surveillance de la Transition) who are a network of activists from churches, local NGOs, women’s and youth organisations, and professional organisaitons, who are dedicated to democratisation and the establishment of an Etat de droit. The principle mission of GAT is a successful transition in DRC, acting in the medium and long term as a public action watchdog. Alert is currently supporting GAT to work on an investigative report on the national budget, and to observe the actions of the Electoral Commission in DRC.

In Bukavu, in the East, we work with CEGEC (Centre d’étude et de formation sur la gestion et la prévention des conflits dans la région des Grands Lacs), a research institute focusing on conflict issues in DRC. We currently support CEGEC to publish their regular research bulletin (the ‘Observatoire’) and have recently supported them to carry out a study on the army.

Over the last few years we have supported the Pole Institute, a well-respected research institute based in Goma, North Kivu, to develop a process aimed at giving opportunities for local peace and development actors in eastern Congo to learn from each other, develop clearer analyses and methodologies for their work and break the isolation in which local peace and development activists have been working.

We continue to collaborate with Pole Institute, and participate in their periodic workshops (Bustani ya Mbadiliko, which means Garden of Learning in Swahili) that bring together participants from civil society organisations to exchange experiences by looking at the context, practice and problems of each participant and subjecting them to peer analysis, producing common learning on how to develop more integrated peacebuilding and development strategies.

For more information, contact Sylvie Pereira

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Last updated: November 2006