USAID/OTI DRC Field Report
October 2005
Program Description
The Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) helps stabilize and revitalize war-torn communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by facilitating community-level reintegration of war-affected youths and increasing broad awareness of key transition issues. OTI's objectives are achieved through a program called Synergie d'Education Communautaire et d'Appui à la transition (SE*CA, pronounced "C'est ça!"). The program, implemented by Chemonics, focuses on community reintegration and revitalization and consists of: basic life skills and vocational training (Youth Education and Skills/YES) provided by Master Trainers; small grants to participating communities, providing a chance to put learned skills into practice; and Transition Awareness and Participation (TAP) grants intended to reinforce YES messages through media-focused information campaigns and enhanced access to information. As the transition progresses, OTI is working with the USAID Mission to hand over program activities in anticipation of a March 2006 exit.
Country Situation
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Democratic Republic of Congo
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Security – Although most areas of the country are secure, there remain certain pockets of instability in the east. Four hundred Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels entered into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after being pushed out of southern Sudan by Ugandan soldiers. The situation became tense when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni threatened an invasion to capture the rebels if the Congolese government did not disarm the rebels in two months. The Congolese army deployed troops to Aba near the Sudanese border to disarm the rebels, and the rebels returned to southern Sudan. In early October, Hutu rebels calling themselves "Rasta" (but more than likely Rwandan Hutu FDLR forces) attacked communities in the territory of Walungu in South Kivu Province. The rebels displaced thousands, destroyed property, and hacked 24 civilians to death.
In the areas surrounding Kisangani, the Presidential Guard and military present an increasing threat to security, with cases of extortion on the rise. The Presidential Guard has set up roadblocks requesting payments, while the military has set up 12 barriers on the river between Kisangani and Isangi to collect "fees." Although the soldiers are supposed to protect the population, they claim that they are poorly paid by the government or not paid at all, so that the public needs to pay them.
In late October, the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Congo was extended until September 2006, and 300 soldiers will be added to the Mission.
The transitional government and elections – Although there have been delays, voter registration continues, with over 19 million citizens registered already. Due to some of the logistical delays related to voter registration, the Independent Election Commission announced the postponement of the constitutional referendum from mid-November until Dec. 18. There was limited public response to this delay, with most people still expressing positive feelings about the process and the advanced state of voter registration.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
On Oct. 14, USAID signed an agreement with CONADER (the World Bank-sponsored national institution in charge of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants). CONADER will provide $4.7 million for USAID to execute a program to reintegrate 11,200 ex-combatants in Ituri District in northeastern DRC. The Ituri Reintegration Program has a total value of $6.4 million, with USAID contributing $1.7 million. Also benefiting from the program will be 5,040 community members who, like the ex-combatants, will be provided Youth Education and Skills (YES) training and then a choice between being paid to work on rehabilitation projects or receiving basic vocational training with a kit. This is the first reintegration program for CONADER and is also the first time that USAID has received World Bank funds to execute a project. The program has already started, with all staff hired and trained and teams deployed around Ituri District. The teams will verify the location of each of the 11,200 ex-combatants and ask for their activity preference. Additionally, the program has already launched the first project with 70 ex-combatants and 30 community members.
In other news about SE*CA's YES program, it has completed its second cycle of community training on conflict management, democracy and governance, health and well-being, reaffirmation of values (including gender and rape sensitization and psychosocial assistance for war trauma), and agriculture and revenue generation. To date, the program has trained 10,164 people in 280 communities in Orientale and Maniema Provinces. At the same time, community rehabilitation grants for second-cycle interventions were to be completed in October. After these grants are completed, seven field offices in Kisangani, Kindu, Isiro, Buta, Bafwasende, Punia, and Kalima will be closed in November.
The SE*CA project is being expanded into Bukavu in South Kivu Province. The International Rescue Committee, in partnership with the Office of Transition Initiatives' implementing partner Chemonics, will execute this branch of the SE*CA project, which will include YES training for 2,400 people and community rehabilitation grants in 10 communities.
B. Grant Activity Summary
| Support the reintegration process between war-affected youth and their host communities |
2 |
$51,548 |
72 |
$1,801,719 |
| Reinforce awareness to foster community participation on issues key to the transitional process |
2 |
$18,712 |
54 |
$1,029,342 |
| Total |
4 |
$70,260 |
126 |
$2,831,061 |
SE*CA signed two grants to support youth reintegration. The first was the pilot project for the Ituri Reintegration Program. The second grant is for a rapid response to a problem in Kisangani, where political parties were manipulating youth gangs into violence. The grant will provide the youths with training on conflict management and democracy and governance while putting them to work on road rehabilitation.
A grant signed to raise awareness and participation on political transition issues is for a youth community information center that will be a place for local young people, including ex-combatants, to come together and discuss transition issues. The center, connected to the local radio station, will serve as a regional hub for information distribution. Another transition-related grant is to support the Aru Internet Center to print and post transition news daily on community bulletin boards throughout the area.
C. Indicators of Success
As SE*CA prepares to depart Maniema Province and western Orientale Province, its legacy is becoming apparent. The leaders of Orientale and Maniema Provinces have regularly supported SE*CA's initiatives, including the vice-governor of Orientale Province, who uses the program as a platform to reinforce the importance of the transition process. In Ituri District, the number of letters expressing gratitude and requesting SE*CA intervention more than tripled in October. Local authorities are also vocal about their appreciation of the role SE*CA has played in reintegrating ex-combatants into their communities and initiating collaboration among once- warring communities.
Despite being in close-down mode in Kisangani, the SE*CA program wrote, signed and launched a grant in less than a week to respond to a destabilizing situation with youth gangs in that community. Political parties were paying the youths to destabilize the area as the country heads toward elections. To address the situation, SE*CA launched a program to provide the youths with conflict management and democracy and governance training so that they could understand their role in creating conflict, as well as the proper role of political parties. In addition, the youths were involved in paid rehabilitation work on one of the roads so that they would be less enticed by the political parties' payments. The grant has successfully stabilized the situation, with one youth explaining: "Before, I did not even know that I was a part of the problem. Now I understand, and I will not be manipulated into contributing to conflict again."
The representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Maniema Province passed on his kudos for the SE*CA program's success in mobilizing communities that participated in the first cycle of YES training in the province. The representative explained how SE*CA interventions in the form of training and community projects served as launching pads for new initiatives undertaken both with and without external inputs. He further explained that SE*CA activities and their underlying rationale are being used as models for community interventions and mobilization in various regions of the province.
The credibility that SE*CA established during the first interventions in Ituri is now apparent. During the current preparations for the Ituri Reintegration Program for ex-combatants, 40 teams of interviewers went into various areas of the district. At first, the ex-combatants refused to participate, complaining that people come and talk to them, but nothing happens to help them. But when the interviewers explained that they were with the SE*CA program, the ex-combatants changed their minds, saying that it was because they had seen and been positively impacted by SE*CA's work.
D. Program Appraisal
October was an exciting time for the SE*CA program as it began to transition out of its initial design and into new formats that will respond to different needs. In terms of the closing down of the first phase of SE*CA, two cycles of the training program have been completed, with second-cycle participation rates at 10,164 when the goal had been 8,400. The real success is that this is the rate of participation through all five modules for six months, even when the participants were not paid. Additionally, inaugurations are taking place across Orientale and Maniema Provinces as the program completes almost 130 grants, including the Batikalela school and information center, where community participation and enthusiasm were high. Most important, the program is taking lessons learned from these interventions and applying them to new opportunities.
Although the program is closing down in some areas, it is abuzz with the launching of SE*CA's Ituri Reintegration Program. It is an enormous logistical undertaking, but very necessary to move the transition along in that region. The program is receiving a lot of attention as CONADER's first signed reintegration project, but, more important, it is already on the ground and launching activities.
As the SE*CA program prepares for its final evaluation, there are many successes to draw upon. But the program is currently focusing on the potential obstacles to success (insecurity in Ituri, logistical constraints, and different staff responsibilities) and how to overcome these in this new phase.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
During November, the program will focus on: Launching the Ituri Reintegration Program for ex-combatants; launching the SE*CA program in Bukavu; conducting the final evaluation of original SE*CA activities; registering the SE*CA Network non-governmental organization; and closing out the Kisangani, Kindu, Punia, Kalima, Bafwasende, Isiro, and Buta offices.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C.: Wendy Henning, DRC Program Manager, e-mail: whenning@usaid.gov ; telephone: (202) 712-0102
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| Enlarged map of the Democratic Republic of Congo. |
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