Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Examining support for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the context of REDD+ in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Situation of the inclusion of women and young people in agricultural and rural areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

From 24 to 29 August 2024, data was collected on the situation regarding the inclusion of women and young people in rural agricultural areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is part of the activities to be carried out by the CGIAR TAFS-WCA initiative, including reflections on gender issues and obstacles to the empowerment of vulnerable groups in agricultural value chains. The research approach is qualitative and ethnographic. The surveys covered three cultural areas in North Kivu: the villages of Kibumba/Nyiragongo and Masisi in Goma; Mudaka and Kavumo in Bukavu; and Kamanyola and Luvungi in Uvira. Stakeholder consultations were based on Focus Group Discussions (FGD), small group interviews and semi-structured individual interviews. A total of 106 agricultural stakeholders were interviewed in the selected communities. The data was analysed using an approach that prioritised their opinions. Overall, women farmers in Kivu face major challenges in terms of economic and social inclusion. Local customs tend to discriminate against them. In many areas, women are seen as beings who must remain at the service and under the authority of men. They also find it difficult to gain personal access to the land because of the man’s control over this resource. Women in Kivu therefore find it very difficult to be autonomous. Young people are also faced with the challenge of inclusion in the farming communities of North Kivu. Perceived as social cadets, they are generally excluded from resource management. Only their elders manage to develop prosperous production activities thanks to their control over access to land. These conditions discourage many young people from getting involved in farming. Due to a lack of opportunities, some of them are driven to rural exodus or to take winding paths such as enlisting in the ranks of the armed rebel groups occupying the east of the country. This data confirms how the gender inequalities faced by women and young people in rural areas affect their social and economic development.

Workshop on Gender and Indigenous Women’s Rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Protecting Rights to Land and Forests

Aide, échanges commerciaux et investissements de la Chine: Quelles conséquences pour les forêts de la République démocratique du Congo?

Monitoring of social clauses in the Democratic Republic of Congo 2011-2020

The bulk of financial resources devoted to social clause infrastructure projects is allocated to those in the education sector, accounting for about USD 4 million (74%); this is followed by 20% allocated for healthcare infrastructure, 4% for road infrastructure and 1% for water supply infrastructure. Cumulatively across the whole monitoring period (2011-2020), an estimated 36,466 students were direct beneficiaries of the education sector. A total of 127 schools, 85 health centres, 27 administrative buildings, 11 water points and 436 kilometres of road were built within the framework of social clauses.

Suivi des clauses sociales en République démocratique du Congo 2011-2020

L’essentiel des ressources financières consacrées aux infrastructures est allouée au secteur de l’éducation, soit environ 4 millions USD (74 %), suivis par 20 % dans les infrastructures sanitaires, 4 % dans les infrastructures routières et enfin 1 % dans le secteur des adductions d’eau. Dans le secteur de l’éducation, les bénéficiaires directs sont estimés à environ 36 446 élèves cumulés durant la période de suivi. Au total, c’est 127 écoles, 85 centres de santé, 27 bâtiments administratifs, 11 points d’eau et 436 kilomètres (km) de route qui ont été réalisés dans le cadre des clauses sociales.

The challenge of responding to multiple and compounding food shocks: The case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been the centre stage of various crises, ranging from political instability, violence and insecurity to the biggest outbreak of Ebola in the world’s history. As a result, the country’s development status remains low, characterised by pronounced malnutrition, high poverty rates and fragile livelihoods (INS, 2019; Marivoet, De Herdt, & Ulimwengu, 2019). At the same time, the DRC is endowed with countless natural resources. The country has the potential to become one of the richest economies on the continent and a driver of African growth. Given that around 65% of total population live in rural areas, the agriculture sector has by far the biggest potential to be an engine of inclusive development. Despite its significant agricultural and mineral resources, the DRC has the largest number of food insecure people in the world, resulting from a combination of factors including conflict, increased food prices and transportation costs, as well as the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other epidemics. The country’s protracted food crisis is compounded by one of the world’s longest-running armed conflicts with armed forces associated with foreign forces that continue to fight intensely in the eastern territories. According to the 2023 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFS) (FSIN, 2023), the Democratic Republic of the Congo has the highest numbers of people in IPC Phase 3 or above, at about 26.43 million, accounting for over 55 percent of the region’s total number of people in these phases, mostly due to compounding shocks the country experiences. The armed conflict in Eastern DRC has led to the displacement of people, often forcing them to abandon their farms and livestock. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that as of 2021, there were over 5 million internally displaced people in DRC (OCHA, 2021). The displacement severely undermines food production, leading to food shortages in the region. The ongoing conflict has led to the destruction of infrastructure crucial for agriculture, such as irrigation systems, storage facilities, and roads needed for the transportation of food and farming inputs. This has also reduced the ability of farmers to engage in productive agriculture, leading to food insecurity (FAO, 2020). Even when food is available, conflict can make it difficult for people to access markets due to safety concerns. Roads are often blocked by armed groups, preventing the transportation of food to markets (WFP, 2021). Timely response to these shocks becomes critical as households and communities that have lost their livelihoods because of a shock can rapidly deplete assets and engage in coping strategies with long-term effects on well-being. Given resources constraints, proposed responses must be based on evidence. However, in addition to the lack of adequate data, empirical misspecifications may lead to erroneous evidence; therefore, increasing the challenge to design, implement, and monitor required interventions in the face of multiple shocks. In this paper, using the case of Eastern DRC, I highlight the need for researchers and policymakers to consider the complexities and nuances of different shocks and their interactions in order to design more effective food security interventions.

Uneven transmission of traditional knowledge and skills in a changing wildmeat system: Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Indigenous communities typically hold diverse traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of their socialecological system. Much of this knowledge is embodied as skills related to subsistence practices within a specific landscape and is associated with community values and norms. Ways of knowing often reflect the different activities traditionally undertaken by men and women. The incursion of external forces, including urbanisation, the cash economy and migration tends to diminish transmission of traditional embodied skills. Knowledge can be lost as culturally significant environments degrade or species become extirpated. Lack of opportunity to develop traditional knowledge and skills can diminish feelings of place and identity, and thus capacity for local environmental stewardship.The Yangambi region, Democratic Republic of Congo is a hunting territory of the Turumbu ethnic group. We used questionnaires to explore how levels of wildmeat knowledge and skill may have changed over time among the Turumbu. The responses showed lower levels of self-reported skill among women who started to participate in the last 10-15 years. This pattern partly reflects the period of ‘apprenticeship’ but may also suggest diminished learning opportunity in recent years.Skills in cooking, smoking, and selling wildmeat persist at a higher level than skills in curing disease and gathering wild produce. There was a much more marked pattern for men, with diminishing levels of wildmeat skill reported for around 35-40 years, and even earlier for knowledge of traditional medicine and wildmeat taboos. Questions about mentoring suggested that women have maintained knowledge pathways between mother and daughter, while men showed a shift towards increased learning from uncles.Gender differences in sharing and learning TEK may be linked to the type of skills that remain valuable in a changing social, ecological, and economic context. Men traditionally undertake the capture elements of hunting, while women deal with wildmeat processing, marketing, and cooking. The Yangambi wildmeat system has evolved from subsistence to a strongly market-driven economy during the lifetime of our study participants. This shift may partly explain why market-based skills such as food smoking and selling have endured longer than hunter’s nature-based knowledge.

Vers un régime foncier juridique spécial protecteur des peuples autochtones et des communautés locales des zones forestières en République Démocratique du Congo

A l’aune de la définition d’une nouvelle réforme de la politique foncière en République Démocratique du Congo, la présente étude ouvre une piste de réflexion en vue de contribuer à la mise en œuvre d’une politique foncière adéquate susceptible d’assurer la protection juridique spéciale des communautés locales et peuples autochtones vivant autour des concessions forestières. Il analyse non seulement les efforts fournis par le législateur congolais en vue de construire un régime juridique spécial protecteur des peuples autochtones et des communautés locales à l’accès aux ressources naturelles, mais également offre les préalables avant la mise en œuvre d’un régime foncier spécial protecteur des peuples autochtones et des communautés des zones forestières (Communautés locales) en République Démocratique du Congo avec un essai des propositions.

Assessing the importance of livestock for the livelihoods of rural people in South Kivu, DR Congo

Assessing the importance of livestock for the livelihoods of rural people in South Kivu, DR Congo

For the young

The story began in the early 1990s. And it must be said that it began rather badly! At the request of a German company, Edmond Mahuta and about 15 young people decided to start a business growing peppers in the Masi-Manimba region, 250 km east of Kinshasa

Reducing Wild Meat Sales and Promoting Local Food Security: Lessons Learnt from a Behavior Change Campaign in Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo

Marketing strategies to promote behavioral change are increasingly used to reduce the unsustainable use of wild meat. One of the mayor keys for success of behavior change campaigns lies in the choice of the channel for communication and the messaging. In this research, we present a behavioral change campaign implemented in Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo framed around an integrated conservation and development objective: improve food security in rural communities, reduce the unsustainable use of wildlife for food and promote locally grown pork and chicken. The campaign was co-developed based on the research team’s knowledge of the hunting system in the study area and the participation of key local stakeholders (village leaders, hunters and their families). It used participatory community theater, various printed materials, radio and face to face interactions. We evaluated the efficiency and clarity of messaging for channels used through semi-structured interviews with hunters, households and wildlife traders. We found that participatory community theater resulted in increased clarity and understanding among hunters and households. Moreover, community theater promoted word-of-mouth communication that reached an audience well beyond the location where the theater was held. Messages that were framed positively and used amusing channels of communication triggered positive receptiveness by our audience. Using local languages, avoiding written materials for illiterate audiences, and using repetitive means of communication may be among the strategies that could help increase the clarity of communication messages, particularly for sensitive topics such as this one. Our work calls for more lessons learnt from the ground about the most appropriate communication channels and messages, keeping in mind the social and cultural background of the audience, and ensuring that messages trigger emotions that lead to the desired changes.

Assessing post-conflict challenges and opportunities of the animal-agriculture system in the Alpine region of Uvira district in Sud-Kivu Province, D. R. Congo

The Alpine region of Uvira District in South-Kivu Province faces low agricultural productivity challenges largely due to human population pressure on the natural resource base. During the dry season, conflicts between crop farmers and livestock breeders are common. This region is located 2500 – 3020 m a.s.l. and is almost inaccessible due to poor road infrastructure. To understand the interactions between natural resources (forests, pastures, soils) and sedentary agriculture, and to propose solutions for sustainable natural resource management, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) sessions covering three farmer group interviews were conducted in July 2010 in Marungu, Kitembe and Kahololo location. The livelihoods of the Banyamulenge have been transformed from pastoralism to a sedentary system with the introduction of crop cultivation after 1980. Maize, bush beans and Irish potatoes are cultivated with limited success because of late crop maturity under the prevailing climatic conditions. Livestock, mainly cattle, sheep and goats is managed under extensive system, relying on natural pasture far from the human settlements. Livestock plays an important role to define people’s wealth and is mainly managed by men. There is a real need of forages during the dry season; however, cultivation of forages is unknown. On the other hand, pastures appear to be degenerating due to overgrazing. Access by farmers to efficient and effective agricultural extension services is fundamental in order to promote locally adapted and profitable crop and livestock production while at the same time, sustaining the productive resource base and security.

Report of the workshop to strengthen the organizations of the Gender-based Agricultural Innovation Platforms (Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo)

Building the evidence base on the agricultural nutrition nexus: Democratic Republic of Congo

COVID-19 outbreak and rural household food security in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo

Although global assessments of the initial impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have focused on income, jobs, and health conditions, this study constitutes one of the first studies that assessed the impact of COVID-19 on food security in DRC and established the short-term implications of the COVID-19 outbreak on rural households’ food security in DRC. In addition, the study recommendations contributed to shaping government interventions toward the pandemic in the Country. The study used data from four western provinces of the country on 1339 households. Our results show that 80 % of households experienced an increase in food prices, 61 % a noticeable decrease in the availability of food, and 54 % a decrease in their dietary diversity. Due to changes in food availability, dietary diversity, and food accessibility imposed by the COVID-19 outbreak, >70 % of households experienced either a decrease in the consumption of meat, milk, fish, and cereals or an increase in their consumption of traditional vegetables. In addition, COVID-19 significantly affected food security dimensions in larger households, households with a greater number of members aged 35 years and above, households headed by women, households where members participate in associations or cooperatives, households that depend on crop sales as the major source of income, and in poorer households. These findings highlight the significant implications of the COVID-19 outbreak on household food security in western DRC and underscore the need for emergency interventions to strengthen the resilience of rural people and accelerate their recovery and other long-term measures toward sustainable and inclusive development.

Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on gender equality and the youth and social inclusion in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Shaping forest safety nets with markets: adaptation to climate change under changing roles of tropical forests in Congo Basin

Tropical forests hold several goods and services used by forest-dependent people as safety nets to traverse difficult periods of resource supply. These same goods and services are constantly surrounded by emerging markets linking remote communities with major urban centers nationally and internationally. How these markets affect adaptation remains unclear. This paper examines the roles of markets in non-timber forest products that normally serve as safety nets for forest communities, and the implications for climate change adaptation in the Congo Basin. Following the identification and prioritization of forest-based development sectors for adaptation by stakeholders, the types of markets and trades surrounding the identified sectors were examined in two provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a case study in order to evaluate revenue flows and their potential contribution to adaptation by local communities. The distribution of the market revenue leaves local people with returns much lower than the worth of the commodity, while wholesalers and retailers reap most of the benefits and profit from the high variability in volume and market earnings for the same commodity across provinces. Markets may increase the value of a commodity as observed in this study, but their contributions to adaptation appear highly limited for local communities following their distribution among the stakeholders in the market chain. This is likely to be worse in free market settings, especially when it diminishes the safety net roles of forest goods and services. Markets should therefore complement rather than substitute forests roles for adaptation to climate change in tropical forest countries. Capturing the benefits of trade for adaptation is crucial but will require policy reforms and further research that addresses the complexity in benefit sharing.

The agriculture-nutrition nexus in North and South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The provinces of North and South Kivu, in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are deeply marked by two decades of conflict. Instability and population displacement have resulted in the destruction of the agricultural base, causing food insecurity and severe malnutrition.