Major challenges

DFID: Working to reduce poverty in Democratic Republic of Congo

Making aid effective | Governance | Roads, health, education & water | Reducing conflict

DRC has made major strides towards peace in recent years with democratic elections in 2006, putting the possibility of a stable and more prosperous nation within reach of the almost 62 million Congolese people.

DFID’s goal in the DRC is to reduce poverty and sustain peace. Our programme there has expanded rapidly so that we are now one of the country's largest donors. From spending £6 million in 2001-02, we provided over £90 million in 2008-09, a sum that will rise to £100 million in 2009-10 and to £130 million in 2010-11. We've also established a permanent DFID office in Kinshasa staffed by a 40-strong UK and Congolese team, demonstrating our long-term commitment to the country, and we work very closely with the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence. Our vision is to see the DRC achieve its potential as one of the most prosperous countries in Africa and a catalyst for growth in the Great Lakes region.

In recent years, DFID has helped by:

• providing funds to enable more than 18 million people to vote for the first time for a president, parliament and provincial assemblies: over 30% of voters said they were encouraged to vote by the national radio station, Radio Okapi, which our funding helped put on the air
• providing at least 4 million people with emergency food, water, medical treatment and shelter every year
• opening up more than 800-kilometre of rural roads and, in the process, creating 1.5 million days of employment: journey times have been reduced from days to hours and economic activity along the newly opened roads is taking off
• supporting the provision of 3.3 million bed nets that protect over 6 million people from malaria every day
• enabling more than 500,000 women to access reproductive health care and more than 500,000 children to access health and nutrition services
• funding the distribution of over 50 million condoms to help fight HIV/AIDS and supporting a behaviour change programme to encourage condom use, which reached an estimated 274,000 people
• contributing £58 million to the Congo Basin Forest Fund, which will help protect the livelihoods of the 50 million people dependent on forests and reduce the rate at which deforestation (which fuels climate change) occurs.

Making aid effective

We're working closely with the DRC government to strengthen its ability to operate beneficially for the Congolese people; where government systems are strong enough, we'll provide funding through these. We also work with the United Nations, the World Bank, other bilateral donors, and international and national NGOs (non-governmental organizations).

Governance

DFID is helping to strengthen the DRC's democratic systems to build a capable and accountable state that works in its people's interest. The planned 2009 local elections will be a major step forward in this. In addition, we are supporting the building of better public financial management systems so that more public money will be used to benefit the population.

We're also assisting in the reform of the police to help improve the security of ordinary people and reduce human rights abuses. And we're working to ensure that the wealth resulting from the DRC’s natural resources benefits the majority of its people in a sustainable way.

Roads, education, health and water

Much of our help in the DRC is aimed at delivering a 'peace dividend' for its poor.

With our support for road rehabilitation and maintenance, people will be able to access health and education services and get goods to market. We are aiming to rehabilitate some 2,200 kilometres of priority roads, which will be maintained by the government.

We’re working with the government to fund a reduction in primary school fees, which will allow at least 2 million more children to attend school. We’re also funding a health programme in four provinces of the DRC that will allow more than 2 million people access to desperately needed health services.

Finally, we're supporting sustainable access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene education for around 4 million people.

Reducing conflict and its impact

Conflict in the DRC has devastated millions of lives, and it's crucial that the critical humanitarian needs of these people are met. We're one of the largest humanitarian donors in the DRC: the £42 million we donated in 2008 provided emergency food, water, medical treatment and shelter to millions of Congolese.

We’re also funding a major community reconstruction programme in eastern DRC. This helps communities in conflict-affected provinces work together to jointly plan and rebuild important local infrastructure, such as schools, clinics and markets, and promote economic activity. Our assistance will improve the livelihoods of 1.78 million people.