Democratic Republic of Congo programme
Theories of change have also been developed for the programme’s work within each of LPI’s three strategic priorities. In order to reach the highest effect, the work with these three strategic priorities also places its focus on different target groups. Below you find the theories of change and a summary of the specific target groups and types of activities for each strategic priority.
Civil society support and engagement
Congolese civil society organisations (CSOs) constitute legitimate and ideal structures able to work for sustainable and in depth conflict transformation with local conflict actors and necessary positive change within current social structures contributing to conflict. Their professionalisation within the area of conflict transformation allows for a sustainable and non-violent management of the conflicts and contradictions that exist within the Congolese context (and particularly that of the Kivus). In order for the CSOs to be effective however, the capacity building of these organisations needs to respond to other identified weaknesses within programme implementation, administration, finances and general organisational development and not only to conflict transformation.
Target group and types of activities: The direct target group for the work with civil society support and engagement in the DRC programme is the programme’s partners. A possible indirect effect of the work that LPI does with these partners will be the emergence of new actors involved with conflict transformation at the local level. The permanent peace committees that were put in place as a follow up to the Participatory Action Research focusing on the Rastas in 2008 and 2009, together with LPI’s partner Union Paysanne pour le Développement Intégral, is a concrete example of such local initiatives. These will then also become part of LPI’s target group for civil society support and engagement. Activities within this type of work will encompass internal partner assessments, capacity building efforts within organisational development and conflict transformation, accompaniment in conflict transformation activities such as PAR processes, gender mainstreaming and financial support.
Policy work and awareness-raising
Many peacebuilding initiatives carried out in eastern Congo are top-down and remain uninformed about realities on the ground. Thus, they risk only attending to the immediate effects of the conflicts rather than dealing with the locally identified root causes. Through the well informed analysis LPI and its partners carry out on conflicts within the local context, these actors are very well positioned to feed international, national and regional policy-makers with a more comprehensive understanding of the conflicts and their dynamics, thus enabling the policy-makers to take more informed decisions.
Target group and types of activities: The awareness-raising and policy work will be carried out on the international, national and local levels. The policy activities at the international level will mainly be carried out via LPI’s Uppsala office and will target governments, organisations and international donors with influence on the political solution of conflicts in the DRC. LPI’s DRC programme will contribute via existing fora on general subjects targeting political actors at the provincial, national and international levels rather than initiating its own work within this area. At the local level, LPI’s partners will play a very important role in raising the awareness of key conflict actors such as armed groups (foreign or Congolese), leaders of ethnic-based associations, and community leaders. LPI will support its partners in techniques and methodologies related to awareness-raising and policy work so that they can reach relevant actors, but will otherwise maintain a background position. Types of activities for LPI’s policy work and awareness-raising in the DRC will include identification of relevant themes, the publication and distribution to appropriate actors and the participation in relevant fora both on the local, national and international level.
Cross-fertilisation of conflict transformation theory and practice
While LPI has a lot to learn from various actors operating in the same area, it also remains convinced that the Institute and its partners’ experiences will be of relevance to the further development of theory and practice within conflict transformation and peacebuilding. Lessons learned from LPI and its partners’ PAR processes and conflict transformation experiences can provide areas of research as well as sources of inspiration and theorisation for various research institutes and think-tanks.
Target group and types of activities: Networking and cross-fertilisation within LPI as an organisation, between LPI’s partners, other peacebuilding and conflict transformation organisations within and outside the DRC. These will be carried out through active participation in relevant networks, direct cooperation, seminars, and the publication and dissemination of research results. Strategic partnerships with universities and independent research centres will be important and facilitated through the acceptance of interns and collaboration with researchers. Additionally, activities will include the systematised documentation of experiences and lessons learned by the DRC programme and its partners.
For information about the programme’s results please see Annual report.