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USAID/OTI DRC Field Report
December 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
(click on map for program activities) |
Security – There are numerous reports of National Army (FARDC) soldiers terrorizing and extorting local populations in Ituri district in eastern DRC. The FARDC based in Nizi and Mabanga recently pillaged and raped persons in adjoining villages, according to reports from the area. Additionally, the security situation in and around Nioka, located south of Mahagi in Ituri district, is also very serious and has led to the suspension of SE*CA's activities in that area. It is in the Mahagi region that the FARDC and the United Nations Mission in the Congo (MONUC) have been battling Peter Karim's militia, making the area completely insecure since December 12, 2005 when soldiers looted the city. Some civil society organizations in Ituri, such as Bunia's association of taxi-motos and Mongwalu's associations of butchers, have marched in protest of the FARDC's activities. However, many believe that the lack of military discipline toward the local population is chronic and cannot be resolved unless there are fundamental policy changes at a higher level. Recent efforts by the international community to facilitate the payment of soldiers will hopefully help alleviate the situation. Despite these instances of insecurity, more militia are voluntarily disarming to FARDC and MONUC forces. In Bavi and Similiki, for example, 50 militiamen surrendered their arms and youth who are still hiding arms are asking SE*CA representatives how to surrender so they can take part in the reintegration program.
In North Kivu province, stability improved after FARDC and MONUC soldiers attacked Ugandan rebels, resulting in approximately 40 rebel deaths and the rebels' retreat from the DRC. In South Kivu province in eastern DRC, pockets of insecurity continue in Mwenga, Shabunda, and Walungu, while in many other territories of the province the situation is calm. Members of the province were pleased when DRC President Kabila made his first ever visit as President to Bukavu, the provincial capital, on December 18. Although his visit was welcome, local observers reported that his presidential guards were responsible for harassing people and petty crime. Further south in Katanga province, approximately 25,000 people have been displaced by Mai Mai attacks on civilians and the FARDC's efforts to end the Mai Mai's attacks.
The Transitional Government and Elections – The referendum on the post-transition Constitution dominated the news this month. Despite calls for a boycott by opposition leaders, the process went very smoothly, and for the first time since 1961, the Congolese population voted freely and fairly all across the country. Nevertheless, despite MONUC's heavy involvement, there were serious logistical challenges and the vote was extended a day to accommodate more people. The referendum would not have been able to take place without MONUC support. Total voter turnout is still not certain, but it is clear that the majority of voters said "YES" to the new constitution. By giving this positive sanction to the new constitution text, the Congolese opened the way to the political elections that will elect a new president and new provincial authorities before June 2006.
USAID/OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
The joint USAID/CONADER Ituri Reintegration program launched officially this month with a visit by Daniel Kawata, the Coordinator of CONADER (the national institution in charge of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of ex-combatants or DDR). After finding the majority of the 11,200 projected ex-combatants, conducting sensitization efforts, and organizing community committees, the team completed the training of 426 Learning Facilitators for 213 communities the week of December 5. During the week of December 12, the project launched the training of 12,980 (8,946 of which are ex-combatants) on the Reaffirmation of Values/ Conflict Management module. As a result of the newly-launched Ituri Reintegration program, December was a month characterized by an all time peak in grants signatures with more than 3.1 millions dollars worth of grants cleared in one month through 31 micro projects. Three of those grants were utilized to provide rapid sensitization on the constitutional referendum to 1,478 trainers in North and South Kivu, Orientale, and Maniema provinces.
Regarding the Ituri Reintegration program, the Ituri office now has all 55 staff hired, 53 of whom are Congolese. The pilot project that was launched in late October is continuing to move forward with all 60 vocational training/kit participants having completed their training and received their kits. At first, some refused their kits because they wanted a kit that was higher than the pre-established value of $175. But the situation was resolved, and they have all now accepted the kits. The forty participants who selected to be paid for their work on community rehabilitation projects have been working hard on road rehabilitation around Bunia and also cleaning public sites. The project is moving forward with locating the remaining 2,200 ex-combatants on their list to include in the project.
In Bukavu, where the SE*CA project is being implemented in partnership with IRC, the recruitment of all office personnel was finalized. On the programmatic side, the Master Trainers, grants managers, and Field Supervisor have all been trained, and they have moved ahead with starting to visit various sites to conduct site selection. During the Master Trainer training from November 21-December 9, two persons from six different organizations from North and South Kivu province also participated in the training. They were selected because they had expressed their interest in executing reintegration activities for CONADER. This training allowed for these organizations to have the capacity to execute the YES training which CONADER would like to see included in its partners reintegration programs. The team also conducted quick surveys in the targeted areas in order to have a baseline of indicators against which to measure impact.
B. Grant Activity Summary
| Support the reintegration process between war-affected youth and their host communities |
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|
74 |
$1,797,513 |
| Support the reinsertion of ex-combatants into their communities in Ituri District |
25 |
$3,063,372 |
25 |
$3,063,372 |
| Reinforce awareness to foster community participation on issues key to the transitional process |
7 |
$ 57,177 |
70 |
$1,105,770 |
| Total |
32 |
$3,120,549 |
169 |
$5,966,655 |
- The 25 grants that were cleared to support the reintegration of ex-combatants in Ituri district will provide projects to 12,180 people, of which approximately 9,000 are ex-combatants. There are two types of projects that are provided under these grants. The first is to receive vocational training and a kit in order to start up a livelihood activity. Nine thousand one hundred participants (of which 6,371 are ex-combatants) selected this activity. The commerce and livestock kits are favored with 5,525 people having selected them. The other beneficiaries selected the second option of participating in labor intensive projects that will lead to the rehabilitation of social infrastructure in Ituri as a means to acquire start-up funds for their future lives. They will be paid for their work and will be able to keep the materials that they utilized after the project is completed. From these grants, thirty-one infrastructure sites (markets, schools, etc.) will be rehabilitated in addition to 387 KM of road.
- Two grants were signed to support an emergency education program on the Constitutional referendum held on December 18 and 19;
- Two grants were cleared to support experts and civil society members that will provide technical assistance to amending the Electoral Law currently being drafted;
- One grant will provide experts to the Independent Electoral Commission in preparing future elections; and
- One grant to support the supply of antennas to SE*CA Network regional community centers to receive Kinshasa television broadcasts in order to keep informed of the transition process.
C. Indicators of Success
December has been one of the most successful months for the SE*CA program in terms of demonstrating its capacity for speed, flexibility, and creativity. Firstly, on a few days notice, the project launched an emergency sensitization effort on the constitutional referendum in four provinces after seeing that existing efforts would not be sufficient. It is interesting to note that those four provinces where we conducted the sensitization efforts and YES training (Orientale, Maniema, and North and South Kivu) had the highest voter turnout averaging between 75% and 80%. Secondly, the Ituri Reintegration Program kicked off at full speed despite obstacles with security. Only seven weeks after signing the agreement with CONADER, the team started training 13,000 people (9,000 of which are ex-combatants) in the Conflict Management and Reaffirmation of Values module in 213 communities in Ituri District. To give an idea of the magnitude of this effort, Ituri District is the same size as Rwanda and Burundi. In addition, after discussing the options with ex-combatants, the team drew up and signed approximately $3 million worth of grants in one week. Given the complexities of the reintegration program, logistics, security issues, and geographic scope of the program, program staff are pleased with the speed in which these grants were generated. The fast pace of the program can be attributed to the team learning from the past and using their past experience to immediately leap into the new project. As a result of their expertise, the project is on schedule. Another sign of success is the response of the ex-combatants. Ex-combatants report being highly-satisfied with the training, and as a result, word has spread about the training and participant numbers in the training are rising by the day. One team which normally handles 1,200 ex-combatants is currently training 1,700 ex-combatants because there is such a large demand.
The project has also done a good job of leveraging resources. The Ituri Reintegration program utilizes funds from the CMM, OTI, and Africa Bureau offices at USAID in addition to World Bank funding. But the program is also continuing this approach by working with German AgroAction and Oxfam-Quebec in Ituri Distict to partner on their existing projects putting ex-combatants to work. The SE*CA project will pay for the salaries of the ex-combatants while the partners will continue providing the materials and technical expertise. This will allow for some fund savings in materials on these projects which can then be applied to other rehabilitation projects, improving the flexibility, impact, and options available for these projects.
D. Program Appraisal
December had its challenges with the some of the team having to adjust to working in a new region (Bunia), all Ituri team members having to adjust to working with new partners (CONADER and UNDP), and having to shift gears in the program approach in order to move from a community-reintegration project for war-affected persons to a more targeted project for reintegration of ex-combatants. At the same time, the team was having to train and start up a new project in Bukavu in South Kivu province with IRC while also providing capacity-building to the nascent SE*CA Network. The latter is the local NGO recently-established out of the network of community committees, radio listening clubs, regional community centers, and Learning Facilitators who participated in the SE*CA program. Despite these obstacles, the team has just completed one of the most exciting months of the entire program. The process for all of these actions went very smoothly. In particular, the launch of the Ituri Reintegration Program with 13,000 people already in training and $3 million worth of grants signed was a real success. Most importantly, the program is addressing the key transition issue of reintegration of ex-combatants on a large-scale (the 11,200 ex-combatants in Ituri currently represent 30% of the total ex-combatants ready right now for reintegration projects). The program in Bukavu is well-timed as the situation there continues to improve and become ripe for conflict management and reintegration assistance. Additionally, it has provided rapid response capability to the referendum and electoral law processes. All together, the SE*CA project has already made a mark in contributing the transition process, and it is dedicated to continuing in the future.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
Ituri
- Procurement of kits, building materials, supplies, and tools for activities
- Recruitment of mentors, engineers and foremen
- Participant training of project participants on "Conflict Management and Reaffirmation of Values" module completed
- Master Trainer monitoring visits and continued identification of ex-combatants
- Training of Learning Facilitators and participants in the second module of "Agriculture and Other Income Generation Strategies"
- Develop grants for remaining sites in the Mahagi regions or select another due to security concerns
South Kivu
- Selection of communities of approximately 75 households according to predefined criteria, specifically that they be conflict-affected, accessible, and relatively secure yet at risk from destabilizing factors
- Commencement of baseline survey
- Community sensitization, first village meetings and establishments of Community Committees (CGICs)
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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