Citizens’ Voice and Accountability (CV&A) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Project Information

A core group of Development Assistance Committee (DAC) partners collaborated to undertake a joint evaluation of development aid for strengthening Citizens’ Voice and Accountability (CV&A). An OPM Social Development consultant joined DRIS, a Belgium consultancy, which was contracted by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs(Special Evaluation Service) and SIDA to undertake the country case study for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Similar to all five country case studies, the DRC study used the Evaluation Framework and the Methodological Guidelines developed by the Overseas Development Institute.

The purpose of the evaluation was twofold:

1. To improve the understanding of citizens’ voice and accountability among development partners by mapping and documenting approaches and strategies of development partners for enhancing CV&A and to learn lessons on which approaches have worked best, where and why.
2. To assess effects of a range of donor CV&A interventions on governance and on aid effectiveness, and whether these effects are sustainable.

Findings of the evaluation included:

• The main entry point for donors to support CV&A in DRC was the peace agreement and the subsequent organisation of the first free elections after decades of dictatorship.
• Donor interventions mainly focused on “voice”—citizens’ capacity to express their views and preferences (in its majority through support to NGOs)—rather than the relationship between the state and its citizens which was the aspect of accountability this evaluation was most interested in.
• Capacity building to government institutions, mainly the ‘Institutions de la Transition’, was often basic, involving providing staff, resources and general logistics to organising the elections and supporting the development of a free media.
• Supporting the radio—by far the most wide-spread and popular media in the DRC—was a particularly effective and efficient means to not only raise awareness about the elections but also for citizens to hold officials to account and claim their rights.
• Although donor-supported CV&A interventions have resulted in improved information provision to citizens and the Congolese have found ways to express their views and preferences, this has not always resulted in increased transparency and answerability from the Government.
• While it proved hard to find evidence to link donor support to CV&A with broader development outcomes, the new political freedom and increased citizen participation is a success story in itself, as suggested in the high turn-out in the elections and eagerness to join radio discussions or call-in radio programmes.
• Various constraints to improved CV&A were identified including wide-spread and extreme poverty, corruption, lack of infrastructure resulting in the exclusion of large parts of the population and, most importantly, the ongoing violent conflict in parts of the country.