Democratic Republic of the Congo

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Thematic Focus
• Progress on Aid Effectiveness
• Achievements

Overview

Rich in natural resources and with a large population, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has enormous economic and social potential. Little has been done, however, to develop this potential for the benefit of the Congolese, and so extreme poverty persists throughout the country. The United Nations Development Programme ranks the DRC 187 out of 187 countries on its 2011 human development index. Fifty-nine percent of the Congolese people live on less than US$1.25/day.

A reduced demand from industrialized countries for base metal, wood, and coffee and the decline in export prices of mine products during the 2009 economic crisis have adversely affected economic activity and employment in the DRC.

As well, the country's government has limited capacity to ensure the security of the citizens and provide them with health, education, water, and sanitation services. In the eastern part of the DRC, the resurfacing and radicalization of armed groups is a matter of concern. People continue to be displaced and crime is on the rise, especially sexual violence against women and girls, which has become a major problem.

Children and youth make up a large segment of the population―47 percent of the people of the DRC are less than 15 years old. This group is rather vulnerable, given the high level of poverty everywhere in the country and the inadequacy of existing facilities to provide basic health care. The DRC has one of the world's highest newborn mortality rates, with 129 deaths for every 1,000 births.

In 2006, after a decade of war and 32 years of dictatorship had demolished the country's institutions, the DRC held its first democratic presidential elections. A second election was held in 2011. Decentralization of government is underway, above all to give people easier access to basic services.

Thematic Focus

CIDA's programming in the DRC is aligned with the country's poverty reduction and growth strategy paper (PDF, 1.6 KB, 126 pages) developed by the Government of the DRC and based on five pillars:

• Promoting good governance and consolidating peace through institutional capacity building
• Consolidating macroeconomic stability and growth
• Improving access to social services and reducing vulnerability
• Combatting HIV/AIDS
• Supporting dynamism at the community level

Capacity building of public institutions is central to CIDA's strategy in the DRC.

The goal of CIDA's program in the DRC is to help establish a more democratic, prosperous, and equitable state―one that will be able to reduce poverty sustainably and secure the future of its children and youth. CIDA also provides humanitarian assistance to communities in the DRC affected by conflict.

Children and youth

CIDA is helping to strengthen the DRC's health system, focusing on the most urgent needs of the least privileged, especially of mothers, children, and youth. This includes making quality primary health care more available to the least privileged and building the management capacities of decision-makers in the health sector to make the system more effective.

CIDA also focuses on strengthening the capacities of government officials, local authorities, and civil society to help the tens of thousands of women and girls who are victims of sexual violence in the eastern provinces of the DRC and in helping to fight such crimes.

Progress on Aid Effectiveness

The DRC adheres to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (PDF, 317 KB, 23 pages). The Government of the DRC has established a framework to make aid more effective. The country's poverty reduction and growth strategy paper contains priority action plans. Donor countries are showing a clear willingness to align their activities with the DRC's priorities. The international community has pledged to support a common country assistance framework, which it has developed in response to the government's program.

In the interest of coordinating Canadian assistance with assistance from other donors, and as requested by the Government of the DRC, Canada is focusing its efforts on the Kinshasa area and in the Kivu provinces.

Achievements 2009-2010

Children and youth

• Helped increase access to functional health centres for 300,000 people in the targeted health zones, reaching almost three out of every four inhabitants
• Helped increase the number of childbirths assisted by trained health staff in targeted districts from 41 percent-the provincial rate-to 68 percent
• Helped provide health care and psychosocial care to more than 45,000 victims of sexual violence in the conflict-affected eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, provided almost 8,500 of them with new income-generating skills and 2,000 with legal assistance

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