IFES has been working in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1998, and is currently implementing a civic and voter education program. Program Coordinator Matthew Cohen recently visited the DRC to help the project expand to more DRC provinces.
Upon his return, he spoke to IFES about his experience with voters, elections and traveling in the Congo.
Question: What is IFES doing in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
Answer: The IFES project in the DRC is mostly about civic education. We've employed several approaches to this, including printing t-shirts and posters, broadcasting radio spots, producing an election-themed educational comic book and engaging the electoral commission on matters of voter education.
Our main tool, however, is the bôite à images, or "Image Box." This is basically a series of drawings illustrating various educational messages we're trying to transmit to the population. So, for example, you might have an image that depicts the process of getting in line to get registered to vote, which is supposed to elicit a discussion on the registration process and allow the facilitator to deliver key messages to the participants.
The facilitators are members of civil society organizations (CSOs) that are active in the areas we are targeting. The facts that the boîtes à images do not require participants to be literate or to have a specific education level, and that we work through civil society partners with preexisting networks that reach deep into the provinces, I feel are the main reasons behind the success of the program. Various donors have also been impressed with the model we employ and have asked us to replicate this system nationwide for various stages of elections and the decentralization process.
Q: I understand you went to the DRC to help expand the project.
A: IFES' project in the DRC was originally active in four of the 11 provinces. Lately, we've received additional funding, both from DfID and from USAID, to expand the project into the seven remaining provinces. So my task while I was there was primarily to lay the groundwork for opening offices in those provinces. Each time, I would travel to the provincial capital where a local consultant would be waiting for me, and the two of us would look around for office space, collect pro-formas for the various pieces of equipment each office would need and interview candidates for the positions opening up in those offices.
It got pretty exhausting having to travel so much, especially considering that showing up at the airport five hours ahead of time, ticket in hand, does not guarantee you a spot on the plane in the Congo. I don’t even want to count the number of times I woke up at four in the morning to go to the airport only to get there, wait for another several hours, and be told there was no more room on the plane. The airlines have a tendency to sell more tickets than they have seats on the plane — this is the root of the problem.
One time, I was waiting at the airport in Katanga — one of the more isolated provincial capitals — when word got out among the passengers that they oversold the flight. At that point, mob rule broke out. Despite the airport authorities best efforts to (physically) hold them back, people were shoving one another to get past the gate, running across the tarmac, and elbowing their way all the way to the top of staircase leading to the plane. I did my best to get in with the crowd and fight my way onto the plane, but I just don’t really have that in me. Once the plane was full, the pilots climbed in through the cockpit window and the airport authorities rolled the stairway back, with people still on it. I ended up having to stay in Kananga for three additional days.
Q: Kabila, the current president, was elected in 2006 through an election that was deemed by international observers to be very good. Can you tell us about the election management bodies in the DRC?
A: Fairly recently, the temporary CEI (Commission Electorale Indépendante), which was the electoral commission in charge of the 2006 elections, was dissolved and the permanent CENI (Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante) was established in its place. I found it a little hard to gauge just how effective the old CEI was. I definitely heard a whole range of opinions, often, and predictably, depending on whether it was coming from a supporter of the presidential majority or from a supporter of the opposition. It does seem that the election generally met international standards. On the other hand, it was largely organized by the international community, with the CEI playing more of a supporting role.
That said, since the 2006 elections, there had been effort put into building the capacity of members of the CEI. IFES contributed to that effort by conducting BRIDGE trainings for the CEI. Unfortunately, one complaint that I heard from Congolese people was that several of these newly-trained electoral professionals were not included in the reconstituted CENI.
Q: Were you able to talk to locals about the elections? What are their thoughts on them?
A: The locals I talked to about the elections seemed at the same time hopeful, and deeply skeptical of the electoral process. Given the history of unrest and political violence in the DRC, I certainly understand their skepticism. Almost everyone I spoke with was able to recite a long list of grievances relating to the electoral process; some of which, for example, were over the placement of registration centers. Although a subtle complaint in comparison, it showed an impressive level of understanding of democratic processes. Within more urban populations there was a high level of understanding of the changes, political and cultural, needed to reinforce the democratic process, the stakes of these elections and the potential pay-off, should democracy take hold in the DRC.
Q: The DRC is known for the conflict it has endured. How is the country doing now and is the past (and recent) conflict in the backdrop of everything you do?
A: The DRC does seem to be doing much better from a security point of view. There are still countless guerilla groups hiding in the bush, but these groups seem to have much less of an impact on people's day-to-day lives than before. Kabila, to his credit, has put a lot of into the disarmament of rebel groups and their incorporation into the national military. Unfortunately, these efforts at reforming the security sector are on hold for the moment — hopefully they will be resumed following the election. That said, throughout my travels in several parts of the country, I never really felt unsafe, at least not because of armed groups or potential political violence. Then again, I pretty much stayed in major cities. I'm sure there are parts of the country where it's still completely unsafe to travel.