Search

This article presents a critical analysis on the interrelated yet distinctive approaches of various peace processes, namely: peace mediation, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The critique aims to broaden the understanding of the extent to which peace processes adapt to complex environments marked by cycles of violence, and the extent to which these adaptations align. This understanding is particularly critical given the complexities of current peace processes, which often involve overlapping interventions in persistently violent settings. To address this need, the article draws on the concept of adaptive alignment, which views peace processes as dynamic and interconnected systems that continuously adapt to the evolving nature of complex conflict-affected situations. Adaptive alignment focuses on maintaining peace through adaptability, offering a nuanced understanding of how peace initiatives collectively engage to mitigate violence and achieve sustainable peace. The concept is further illustrated through examination of the specific cases of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN may sanction peacekeeping operations (POs) to neutralize armed groups and promote democratization. This research presents perceptions from beneficiaries of assistance related to POs and relations between local women/girls and peacekeepers within two post-colonial contexts: the DRC and Haiti. Using cross-sectional, mixed-methods data collected in Haiti (2017) and the DRC (2018), we performed a comparative secondary analysis to better understand similarities and differences by country and gender in how participants perceived peacekeepers. Congolese participants were more likely to perceive foreign UN personnel as 'able to offer financial support', compared to Haitian participants who were more likely to perceive the UN personnel as 'in a position of authority' and 'able to offer protection'. Overall response patterns indicated that both Haitian and Congolese perceived the peacekeeper as responsible for initiating interactions with local women/girls. However, some variations were noted: Congolese male participants were most likely to perceive UN personnel as the initiators of interactions with local women and girls, compared to Haitians and Congolese females, who were more likely to perceive local women and girls as the initiators. Our research presents a locally grounded understanding of how locals perceive POs and peacekeepers relative to their communities and women and girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have shown how UN stabilization peace operations mix liberal and illiberal goals and strategies. Yet, further research is needed to theorize and comprehend illiberal peacebuilding features of stabilization operations. This article fills this gap by demonstrating how UN stabilization operations wield illiberal peacebuilding practices. Building upon previous scholarship, we understand illiberal peacebuilding both as an approach and outcome which is oriented by and helps diffuse illiberal norms in the societies where illiberal peacebuilding is instrumentalized by local, regional and international actors. We frame UN stabilization operations in the CAR, the DRC, and Mali as illiberal peacebuilding processes infused with illiberal strategies and show that liberal actors can engage with illiberal strategies for peace promotion. We also analyse peace agreements that accompany these missions as illiberal peacebuilding outcomes and show how these are shaped by illiberal norms. Our key finding is that a set of illiberal norms – exclusion, violence, power inequality and authoritarianism – are central for both UN stabilization operations and peace agreements signed in CAR, DRC and Mali. Therefore, we challenge the UN discourse that stabilization is a needed first step towards liberal and inclusive peace agreements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Missionaries played a central role in the colonial system in Congo – they were a key part of the well-known triad consisting of state, church, and corporations. During the Belgian Congo period (1908–1960), missionaries of diverse congregations were in charge of health care and education, and their religious services were the only ones officially recognized. Narratives have strongly shaped how these missionaries operated. One could even say that the conversion and missionary narrative define what it means to set up a successful 'mission'. In my contribution, I explore how these narratives surface in two novels written in the two decades after Congo's Independence in 1960. Entre les eaux (1973) by V.Y. Mudimbe and Het stigma (1970) by Jacques Bergeyck both refer to the missionary activities in mid-century Congo but their use of the conversion and missionary narrative complicates the common-sense understanding of them. By comparing a Flemish and a Congolese novel, this article aims to decentre the Flemish literary world as the locus where these narratives gain their meaning. By taking a more transnational, multilingual context as a starting point, it wants to shed new light on the ways in which the European missionary presence in Congo has been imagined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experience of healthcare professionals working in primary healthcare provision during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in Kambia District, Sierra Leone. Drawing on ethnographic observation, interviews and focus groups, we explore everyday narratives of 'crisis' in these two regions which had recently seen Ebola epidemics. In describing the impact of COVID-19 on their life, work, and relationships with patients, healthcare workers made sense of the pandemic in relation to broader experiences of structural economic and political crisis, as well as differing experiences of recent Ebola epidemics. There were contradictory experiences of rupture and continuity: whilst COVID-19 disrupted routine health provision and exacerbated tensions with patients, the pandemic was also described as continuity, interacting with broader structural problems and longer-term experiences of 'crisis'. In effect, healthcare workers experienced the COVID-19 pandemic at the crossroads between the exceptional and the everyday, where states of exception brought by emergency measures shed new light on long-standing tensions and structural crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HemoTypeSCTM is one of the immunoassay methods currently used for the early diagnosis of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) in newborns. Earlier diagnosis remains the key strategy for early preventive care needs and parents' education about the child's future well-being throughout his life. Before considering these children as sick and aligning them for regular medical monitoring, it may be valuable to confirm the HemoTypeSC result with a secondary laboratory testing method. In resource-limited settings, where confirmatory methods are not always available, we propose testing the parents to validate the HemoTypeSC result. This study explored this approach in the city of Kisangani. It was a prospective diagnostic accuracy study using genotype biological parents to evaluate HemoTypeSC's performance in the newborn. Fifty-eight children born to 46 known mothers, and 37 known fathers, have been tested. The phenotyping showed that 41 (70.7%) children were SS, whose 37 were born to a couple AS/AS and 4 to a couple AS/xx. Of the 41 SS children, 8 (19.5%) were newborns and 33 (80.4%) were children; 12 (20.6%) children were AS, one of whom was born to a couple SS/AA and 11 to a couple AA/SS; 5 (8.6%) children were AA. In this population, the probability of offspring born to AS/AS parents being SS rather than AS is high (odds, 1.25). No statistical difference was observed between girls and boys. The pedigree of all 58 children has been confirmed. We demonstrated that testing biological parents with HemoTypeSC is a reliable confirmatory method for newborn screening but it presents some limitations discussed in the present article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partnerships between Higher Education Institutions in the global South and North have potential for building capacity in public health research in low-resource countries. We present experiences of partners involved in a North–South–South partnership between universities in Norway, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa. The partnership aimed to establish a postgraduate programme in nutritional epidemiology at the University of Kinshasa, DRC, and develop a cadre of researchers and academic leaders to provide locally generated health research to inform policy. In-depth interviews were conducted with 31 purposively selected stakeholders, facilitators, and students from partner institutions. All participants expressed positive experiences, indicating that the partnership provided excellent opportunities to network, enriched participants' learning and enhanced academic growth, with benefits at individual, institutional, and country levels. Participants suggested that maintaining a common vision was important for success, facilitated by joint planning of project activities, focussing strongly on building research and academic capacity at Kinshasa School of Public Health and addressing local nutrition problems. Important challenges highlighted for future partnerships included failures of co-facilitation and co-supervision, poor research dissemination and policy impact, and concerns about sustainability. Notwithstanding, North–South–South partnerships can address skills shortages in public health research with significant benefits to all partner institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore practical implications of emerging media convergence for journalists and citizens regarding access to information in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Using data from 34, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews, our analysis produces four key findings: (1) individuals and community radio journalists engage with media convergence in DRC; (2) media convergence offers solutions for evading government oversight and regulation; (3) radio journalists are committed to local and international news rather than national, political news and (4) outside actors, such as the Catholic Church and government, exert pressure on radio journalists. Our findings suggest there is growing engagement with convergence culture in Eastern DRC but radio remains a primary and invaluable source of news relating to politics, health, entertainment, and regional conflict. Additionally, emerging participatory culture suggests that citizens are ready for more transparent and representative news media – they need only be connected to a reliable and steady source of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic began as an Ebola epidemic was unfolding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this article, we examine how COVID-19 influenced experiences of an Ebola vaccine trial and attitudes towards medical research in Goma. First, critical debates about vaccine research became a forum in which to contest ineffective local governance and global inequality. Second, discussions about new COVID-19 therapeutics reignited critique of Western biomedical colonialism. Third, rumors were made powerful through everyday observations of the unexpected adaption of Ebola trial procedures in the pandemic. This illustrates the difficulties of maintaining participants' trust, when circumstances dictate protocol alterations mid-trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses how the 2018 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) contributed to a further opening up of the democratic space and shared expressions and sentiments of citizenship. Through an ethnography of the electoral process in the South Kivu province, we investigate how claiming rights that come with citizenship and how people's political identity, shape and are being shaped by electoral processes. We introduce the notion of citoyenneté to capture the dynamic process of civic political mobilization and positioning. In the case of the DRC, the concept of citoyenneté encapsulates the ideas, positions and actions giving meaning to citizenship and refers both to a formal ideology of nation building and political hegemony; and to an ideology of resistance, guiding acts and strategies to claim rights. We look at the substantive aspect of citoyenneté, or the processes of transformation and re-ownership of the content of citizenship during moments of intensified political competition and change. This process, as we argue, confirms that citizenship is above all a social construction, guiding social behaviour that varies according to the demands being formed around the acquisition of new rights, the redefinition of the political community, existing power competitions and social grievances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the experience of Congolese humanitarians negotiating access with armed groups in eastern DRC. It describes how humanitarians become shapeshifters: they play different roles for different audiences as a tactic of social navigation in a context of uncertainty. Because humanitarians encounter risks related to their perceived identity, they play upon identity categories and personal histories, situating themselves tactically during encounters with different armed actors through creative modes of self-fashioning. Whilst there remains a focus on performing a distinct humanitarian identity, NGOs in practice draw upon the embedded local knowledge and skills of employees to work in conflict areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Congo Fashion Week London (CFWL), a fashion catwalk produced and consumed by Congolese and other Black Africans in London. The paper addresses the various ways through which CFWL organizers, designers and performers act within the contemporary fashion industry. The process is defined as "double-bind". It involves a multifaceted, often contradictory, positionality between ways of dealing with the "Western gaze", the reproduction of cultural "authenticity" and the contestation of the limiting discourses of Western exoticism. The article reveals how CFWL social actors are influenced by Western and non-Western power relations through which the global fashion industry operates, while their body performances simultaneously emphasize an "original" African narrative and subvert stereotypical boundaries dictated by the West. In addition, the entanglement between the cultural/aesthetic sphere of the CFWL spectacle and its fundraising goal is explored. The paper, therefore, argues that the medium of fashion and its system are embedded in the social world of Black Africans and have effective political weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and adverse mental health outcomes among long distance truck drivers in Zambia. This is the first study to quantitatively investigate PTE exposure and mental health outcomes among long distance truck drivers in Zambia and examine differences across country of origin. Male truck drivers were recruited along three commonly used trucking routes in Zambia. Participants included truck drivers originating from Zambia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Zimbabwe. We assessed exposure to PTEs and adverse mental health outcomes. Descriptive statistics were examined. Following descriptive and bivariate analyses, a series of one-way ANOVAs were conducted to examine differences in the number of PTEs and mental health problems across country of origin, with Bonferroni post-hoc analyses. A total of 234 truck drivers participated in the study, with the majority from Zambia (38%). Participants reported an average of more than three traumatic events experienced (M = 3.79; SD = 3.38). Findings indicated that Zimbabweans experienced a significantly higher number of trauma types on the Life Events Checklist (M = 5.54; SD = 3.50) compared to truckers from DRC and Tanzania (both p <.000). Zambian truck drivers reported significantly higher symptom severity from the Global Post Trauma Symptom Scale-Zambia (M = 11.98; SD = 6.79) compared to truckers from Zimbabwe, DRC, and Tanzania (all p <.001). Findings indicate the need for mental health programming for long distance truckers in Zambia which addresses high exposure to PTEs and subsequent mental health problems, especially among Zimbabwean and Zambian truckers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how events are turned into fables in humanitarian organisations. It explores how these fables circulate, the lessons they come to embody and their influence in maintaining an organisational status quo. The article argues that such stories teach new humanitarian employees certain 'facts' about 'the field' and help form and consolidate consensus about why things are the way they are in an organisation. By describing three such fables circulating amongst Médecins Sans Frontières 'international' employees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, each of which suggested a need for foreign humanitarians to maintain a certain distance from local citizens (including their nationally hired colleagues) as a means of personal and organisational security, the article illustrates how such fables can 'justify' certain organisational decisions that ultimately reinforce structures of unequal power relations between different humanitarian employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the opinions of youth tomato growers on the accessibility of agricultural credit and factors that influence the accessibility in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Data originated from a household survey for the 2019/2020 farming season. We interviewed 218 youth tomato growers from 6 horticulture production zones in the South-Kivu, eastern DRC. The result reveals a low rate of 20.6% on accessing agricultural credit among tomato growers. The topmost nature of agricultural credit received was cash-based, mostly from informal sources of finance (92.7%). The findings reveal that the lack of information on agricultural credit, the fear of credit default, and the absence of Microfinance Institutions in the study areas were the highest-ranking factors hindering tomato growers from accessing agricultural credit services. Our probit model shows that total household income, gender, and tomato growers' membership in a cooperative were essential factors that explain the probability of accessing agricultural credit. We recommend formalising the agricultural credit system by improving agri-finance extension service delivery to associations of tomato growers among the young to access and use agricultural microcredit services effectively to enhance agricultural production, which is a proxy for rural employment creation and poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 crisis in Africa, several contradictory discourses have tried to predict how the continent will experience the pandemic. Based on a qualitative approach, this article goes beyond generalized and arbitrary predictions and analyzes how three countries in the Great Lakes region of Africa have managed the pandemic. We first analyze which measures the respective governments of the three countries – and their decentralized authorities – have taken. We also analyze up to which extend international prescriptions – as propagated by the World Health Organization – have influenced their choices. Second, we analyze how government measures have transformed throughout implementation and interacted with the specific circumstances of each context. Authorities, on the one hand, navigated between rigid and more flexible interpretation of national prescriptions, entering into practical arrangements or adopting force. Populations on the other hand have resorted to acceptance, circumvention, contestation or resistance. Our research ultimately points to the way in which political dynamics, resistance, violence, and local redefine both national policies and their international reference frames. In this way, the governance dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in the African Great Lakes region provide a lens through which we can complexify our understandings of real governance in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to explore sexual violence in armed conflict from the perspective of the combatants themselves. We interviewed combatants in South Kivu in eastern DRC about their experiences with sexual violence, what they think causes it, and how it might be mitigated. Although respondents in this study strongly believe that sexual violence is a serious crime and an immoral act which should be avoided in their ranks, they sometimes perpetrate it systematically, suggesting a disconnect between their good soldiering ideals and own actions. Combatants report that they want to protect women and men in armed conflicts, but the contexts in which they operate lead them, contrary to their wishes, to behave violently against the civilians they are supposed to protect. To mitigate sexual violence in armed conflicts they propose improving their socioeconomic conditions, getting rid of militias and uniting the Congolese army, punishing perpetrators and adequately training new soldiers joining the united army. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research applies agent-based modelling (ABM) to study volume flexibility in a dual resource constrained (DRC) assembly flow shop environment. The simulation experiment evaluated system and human effects of varying DRC system staffing levels according to design (i.e., workforce, distance and buffer capacity), sensitivity (i.e. coefficient of variation) and operating (i.e. when rule and where rule) factors. Results showed that the rule by which workers are assigned to workstations affects WIP and flow time performances more than production rates. Furthermore per-worker productivity was found to increase, compared to the fully staffed system, particularly where the downstream movement rule was applied. Using the downstream rule when changing stations after completing current tasks reduced flow time (−15%) and WIP (−10%). If another where rule is chosen then it may be preferable for workers to move only after completing all jobs in the station (decentralised rule). For utilisation rates and mean hourly switching of work (human effects), the model shows complex relationships depending on almost all evaluated factors. The novel ABM approach used here enabled the evaluation of emergent system behaviours and showed potential to help firms understand both human and performance effects of operational choices in efforts to achieve volume flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a tendency to consider covert networks as separate from overt networks. Drawing on data from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we demonstrate that this is not the case and identify how covert and overt networks are mutually constitutive. While most studies of African brokers have relied on network metaphors like 'Big Men' and 'social membranes', we consider the embeddedness of 'covert' networks in 'overt' networks explicitly. We perform two analyses on a large original dataset encompassing 396 partially overlapping ego-nets obtained from a hybrid link-tracing design. An ego-net analysis reveals a large degree of homophily and a deep embeddedness of the different networks. A multilevel exponential random graph model fitted to the reconstructed network of a 110-node subset shows that demobilised combatants are the actors likely to broker between armed groups, state forces, and civilian blocs, suggesting their capacity to broker peace or foment war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the magnitude and causes of blindness and low vision in children in Kinshasa. Methods: A study was conducted to carry out a survey in 96 health areas in Kinshasa city. Children aged less than 16 years old with supposed visual problems (Visual acuity < 6/18) were identified by volunteers and surveyors in households and were thereafter examined by two ophthalmologists. Prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision were determined. For each child, anatomic sites of abnormality, etiologic factors and avoidable causes responsible for visual impairment were considered. Results: Thirty-six children with bilateral visual impairment were identified, including 10 cases of blindness and 26 cases of low vision. The prevalence of blindness and low vision was, respectively, 0.08% [95% CI 0.04–0.14] and 0.19% [95% CI 0.13–0.28].Optic nerve and whole globe were the main anatomical sites responsible for blindness in, respectively, in 30% and 20%. Optic nerve atrophy and glaucoma were the leading causes of childhood blindness. The globe apparently normal (50%), uvea (12%) and cornea (12%) were the most common anatomic site responsible for low vision with refractive errors (42%) and uveitis (12%) as the main causes. Childhood and hereditary factors accounted for, respectively, 16.7% and 13.9% of low vision cases. Visual impairment was due to avoidable causes in 69.4% of children. Conclusion: Damage to the optic nerve and refractive errors were respectively the maincauses of blindness and low vision among children in Kinshasa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines embodied representation of race, ethnicity, and gender, questioning ideas of cultural appropriation. Using the London-based Congolese transnational fashion brand Kiyana Wraps as a case study, the article addresses how young Congolese designers re-invent their cultural heritage to conceive the label stylisation and construct meanings of Blackness/Africanness. The article also explores the brand's social spaces, where the headwrap ritual is used by different actors to perform hybrid identities. In addition, wearing the headwrap reveals symbolic metaphors of empowerment, through which intertwined 'feminist' and 'feminine' identities are evoked. The paper examines how Congolese women are creatively taking inspiration from the environment of London to produce innovative fashion trajectories as lived socio-cultural experiences. It argues how the headwrap ritual signifies an aesthetic and material process through which specific racial and ethnic boundaries are transcended, fabricating transcultural body spaces which encompass individuals with diverse cultural backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cassava fields were prospected from two provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Ituri and Haut Uélé) to evaluate the ampleness of Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) infection. CBSD pressure was determined by assessing the incidence, severity, whitefly abundance and distribution of the disease viruses in the surveyed provinces. A duplex RT-PCR was performed for the simultaneous detection of Ugandan Cassava brown streak virus (UCBSV) and Cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) on 56 cassava leaves sampled in the study area. Our results show a high field CBSD incidence contrasted to a low severity in both provinces. CBSD severity was similar in both provinces (mean disease severity 2). High densities of whitefly were recorded in Ituri province (10 adult whiteflies plant−1) than in Haut Uélé where density was 5 adults plant−1. However, no relation has been found between whitefly density and CBSD incidence and severity on cassava leaf, root and stems. Molecular analysis showed the incidence of single infections of UCBSV was greater than single infections of CBSV and mixed infections of UCBSV and CBSV. Disease incidence was greater in Ituri than in Haut Uélé; molecular incidence was lower than field incidence. Our results raise the need for appropriate CBSD control strategies in DRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impartiality is a core legitimating norm for United Nations peace operations. Yet beliefs about what that norm requires of UN personnel have shifted dramatically. In 2013, for example, the Security Council created an intervention brigade – composed of infantry battalions, special forces, and an artillery company – to 'neutralize' non-state armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to critics, these activities violate core peacekeeping norms, including impartiality. This criticism elicits a puzzling response from many UN officials. They downplay the novelty of new practices, insisting that they are still 'impartial'. Where does this discursive pattern come from, and what does it tell us about the relationship between day-to-day practices and the norms that ostensibly guide UN peace operations? Drawing on evidence from the DRC, I argue that norms like impartiality may endure – and remain rhetorically powerful – without telling us much about how practices on the ground have evolved. Instead, insisting that new practices are impartial can be a way for UN personnel to stabilize a core part of their identity under conditions of normative ambiguity. It can also be a way of glossing over contestation and pre-empting concerns about partiality in UN peace operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current Ebola epidemic in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has surpassed 1 700 deaths. Social resistance, a major barrier to control efforts, invites exploration of community beliefs around Ebola and its origins. We conducted a mixed-methods study, using four focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 20 participants, and a 19-item survey questionnaire, administered to a nonprobability sample of 286 community members throughout the outbreak zone. FGDs and surveys were conducted between 4 and 17 August 2018. FGDs revealed a widespread rumor early in the epidemic of two twins bewitched by their aunt after eating her cat, who developed bleeding symptoms and triggered the epidemic. However, this myth appeared to dissipate as the epidemic progressed and biomedical transmission became generally accepted. In our survey, 6% of respondents endorsed supernatural origins of Ebola. These respondents were more likely to believe that traditional medicine practitioners can cure Ebola. Wild animals were recognized as sources of Ebola by 53% and FGD participants commented that 'Ebola leaves the forest and hides in the hospital,' recognizing that zoonotic origins gave way to nosocomial transmission as the epidemic progressed. Taken together, our findings suggest that a dynamic syncretism of mythical and biomedical understanding of Ebola may have shaped transmission patterns. Mythical conceptions and fear of contagion may have fueled the 'underground' transmission of Ebola, as patients sought care from traditional healers, who are ill-equipped to deal with a highly contagious biohazard. A deeper understanding of beliefs around Ebola origins may illuminate strategies to engage communities in control efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under what conditions are Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programs successfully implemented following intrastate conflict? Previous research is dominated by under-theorized case studies that lack the ability to detect the precise factors and mechanisms that lead to successful DDR. In this article, we draw on game theory and ask how the number of veto players, their policy distance, and their internal cohesion impact DDR implementation. Using empirical evidence from Nepal and the Democratic Republic of Congo, we show that the number of veto players, rather than their distance and cohesion, explains the (lack of) implementation of DDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo there are several support programmes for sexual violence survivors, but their impacts are rarely systematically assessed. We investigated the effects for women from two support programmes that include both survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and others. Specifically, we estimated (1) the effect of SGBV on social exclusion and economic well-being, and (2) the effects of support programmes on social exclusion and economic well-being, as well as differential effects for SGBV survivors and others. Based on an original survey of 1,203 women, we found that survivors felt less included across various social settings, but their economic well-being was no different than that of other women. We also found that support programmes significantly improve both perceived social inclusion and economic well-being for survivors and non-survivors. The effects on economic well-being were larger for survivors. In conclusion, these support programmes brought important benefits to survivors and non-survivors alike, although there is potential for improvement, particularly on social inclusion for SGBV survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of diasporas in fuelling conflict has been extensively studied, with much less attention being paid to their role in peace-building. It is increasingly recognised that diasporas from conflict regions are contributing to the reconstruction of their countries of origin, acting as ‘peace-makers’ rather than ‘peace-wreckers’. Women and men migrants have also been found to engage differently towards their country of origin, but attention to women’s activism is still scarce. This article addresses the issue of political activism by Congolese women in the diaspora in both the UK and Belgium. Their activities are assessed analytically through the prism of ‘mechanisms of framing’, which shape the ways in which messages are conveyed during the mobilisation process. The paper discusses diagnostic, motivational and prognostic frames to address sexual and gender-based violence against Congolese women in the protracted conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Framing strategies vary among Congolese diaspora women’s groups depending on the national context in which they are embedded (Belgium and the UK) but a variety of narratives is also discerned which transcends and is shared among Congolese women beyond national borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security Sector Reform has become a central element in assisting post-conflict countries on their way out of conflict to lasting peace. Burgeoning literature explores many aspects of this transformation process. A strong emphasis has been placed on questions of program design and local ownership. In addition to these studies we add another dimension: the impact of human development. As Sector security reform is often applied to developing countries, the impact of human development conditions should be self-evident but has been given insufficient attention. For this reason this study explores the effect of human development in the form of education, welfare, and health on the performance of security forces in two long-term peacekeeping missions in Africa: Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We will show that the structural impact of human development conditions is significant and warrants more attention than currently received. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a country with high natural resources, but it has suffered from decades of civil wars and social turmoil, being heavily aid-dependent. In the DRC, several Nonprofit Organisations (NPOs) are major players in fighting poverty and enhancing welfare. This research aims to analyse the effectiveness of small NPOs in improving poor peoples’ lives through health, education, and economic activities. Two NPOs working in the DRC, one in a rural and the other in an urban area, are compared by researching the aid sites and surveying 201 households (aid beneficiaries). Our case observations and the survey results facilitate analysing the mission accomplishment, effectiveness, and accountability of the NPOs although we admit that the DRC conditions make exact measurements difficult. Multivariate analyses are used to study the differences in aid impacts. There are significant differences in the beneficiaries’ perception of the NPO effectiveness in improving health while no significant differences in education impact were found. This is probably because both case NPOs have succeeded in getting a large proportion of the children of their area registered in the education centres created by the NPOs. Differences were observed in the accountability and reporting style of the NPOs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In contrast to most studies addressing security sector reform (SSR) in Africa, this article queries defence reform efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from a governmentality perspective and hones in on processes of subjectification and modes of agency among members of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC). Based on extensive field research in the DRC, it explores how army staff produce themselves through (and outside of) the ways in which they are ‘hailed’ into subject positions in donors’ efforts to govern. In asking how FARDC staff respond, position, and produce themselves in relation to external reform efforts and the attending governing technologies and techniques, the article contributes to the increasing – yet limited – scholarly attention to those being ‘reformed’ through SSR efforts. Ultimately, attending to thespecificitiesofhowprocesses of subjectification are experienced from the perspective of those who are to be reformed problematizes the simplified notions of lack of political will and commitment, obstruction and ‘spoilers’ that are so prevalent in the SSR literature, suggesting that these processes are heavily shaped by memories of colonialism and exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The question of the Congolese-speaking Kinyarwanda (Rwandophones) citizenship in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been the subject of debate and a source of conflict. The opposition against Rwandophones draws upon the autochthony discourse, linking identity and space in assertions of whom is to be considered the original inhabitant and a son of the soil. According to the popular discourse in the Congo in relation to the autochthony discourse, Rwandophones do not belong to the Congo. Today little is known about how Rwandophones themselves legitimise their belonging to the Congo. Based on original field data collected among Rwandophones in North Kivu and in Rwanda between July 2011 and February 2014, this article analyses the narratives in which Rwandophones speak about and legitimise their belonging to the Congo. The article demonstrates ambivalence in relation to the autochthony discourse: while Congolese Rwandophones on the one hand embrace it, referring to their connection with Congolese soil as a way of legitimising their right to citizenship, they also challenge this discourse by arguing that belonging to the nation state does not require being tied to the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the place of transitional justice in peacebuilding by exploring how domestic and international actors frame this relationship and how this, in turn, moulds dynamics of contestation around transitional justice. In the transitional justice literature, contestation is usually framed around an international–domestic dichotomy: transitional justice agendas promoted by external actors confront strategies of instrumental adaptation of transitional justice by domestic elites and the adoption of alternative transitional justice approaches by local actors. Based on an analysis of transitional justice policy-making in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), this paper proposes that a more multifaceted reading of contestation to transitional justice is needed. In the DRC, both external and domestic actors variously acted as transitional justice promoters and resisters, and their positioning on transitional justice was strongly conditioned by their broader understandings of the nature of the conflict and transitional justice’s role in peacebuilding. It is therefore suggested that contestation of transitional justice does not necessarily reflect a rejection of international approaches to justice, but instead more broadly expresses a lack of agreement on what transitional justice is and what its goals are. The article thus contributes to a broader interrogation of how discourses about the meaning of transitional justice are constructed in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of International Journal of Environmental Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The decades-long conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has resulted in major changes to local economies, strained social networks and insecurity. This environment forces many to pursue unconventional and, at times, socially stigmatised avenues for income. This paper explores the ways in which individuals in eastern DRC engage in, and are affected by, the commoditisation of sex within the context of decades of violent conflict. Focus group discussions conducted with men and women in 2009–2010 highlight how the war in the region has placed individuals, particularly women, in dire economic circumstances, while also changing their roles within families. In the face of severe poverty, women and girls may choose to engage in transactional sex in order to support themselves and their families. Discussants detailed how engaging in transactional sex due to an economic imperative has nonetheless damaged women's relationships with family members between spouses as well as parents and their children through breach of trust and failure to provide. These focus group discussions elucidate how transactional sex is both a symptom of, and a catalyst for, changes within family dynamics in eastern DRC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The UN peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mali were in 2013 given peace enforcement mandates, ordering them to use all necessary measures to ‘neutralise’ and ‘disarm’ identified groups in the eastern DRC and to ‘stabilise’ CAR and northern Mali. It is not new that UN missions have mandates authorising the use of force, but these have normally not specified enemies and have been of short duration. This article investigates these missions to better understand the short- and long-term consequences, in terms of the willingness of traditional as well as Western troop contributors to provide troops, and of the perception of the missions by host states, neighbouring states, rebel groups, and humanitarian and human rights actors. The paper explores normative, security and legitimacy implications of the expanded will of the UN to use force in peacekeeping operations. It argues that the urge to equip UN peacekeeping operations with enforcement mandates that target particular groups has significant long-term implications for the UN and its role as an impartial arbitrator in post-conflict countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Child soldiers are often both victims and perpetrators of horrendous acts of violence. Research with former child soldiers has consistently shown that exposure to violence is linked to trauma-related disorders and that living in a violent environment is correlated with enhanced levels of aggression. To gain more insight into the experiences and the mental health status of former child soldiers, we conducted a survey with N=200 former child soldiers and adult combatants in the DR Congo. We conducted semi-structured interviews concerning military experiences, experienced and perpetrated violence, and mental health. Former child soldiers reported more experienced and perpetrated violence, a greater severity of trauma-related suffering, as well as higher appetitive aggression than adult ex-combatants. Appetitive aggression was related to more perpetrated violence, higher military ranks, voluntary recruitment and higher rates of reenlistments in former child soldiers. Our results indicate that growing up in an armed group is related to higher levels of trauma-related disorders and aggressive behavior. This may explain the challenge of reintegrating former child soldiers. It is thus important to consider mental health problems, particularly trauma-related disorders and aggressive behavior, of former child soldiers for designing adequate reintegration programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the diasporic ‘politics of home’ of Congolese migrants in Europe, in particular in the UK, and to a lesser extent in Belgium. We focus on the fragmentation and heterogeneity of the diasporic political sphere by examining the role of first generation activists, religious groups, as well as youth and women's organisations. Within the transnational political field, first generation leaders are in a dominant position and the involvement of other groups, such as women and young people is marginalised by their control of the diasporic ‘rules of the game’ in the Bourdieusan sense. However, the increasing involvement of Congolese women in the field of women's rights advocacy has opened up new paths of political action which can, in certain occasions, lead to transnational forms of engagement. Similarly, second generation Congolese activists are constructing a space of autonomous engagement, relying heavily on the Internet and especially on social media, some attempting to link up with wider social movements. The paper provides an understanding of the social and political construction of these different fields of diasporic engagement as well as their intersectional and dialogical relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Psychosocial support services are essential for effective HIV care, yet this area remains under-researched in sub-Saharan settings where the HIV epidemic is the most devastating. We explored the relationships between social support, perceived stigma, and quality of life (QOL) in HIV-positive adults participating in a family-centered pediatric HIV care and treatment program in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Baseline interviews were conducted with 275 HIV-positive adults who were caregivers or first-line relatives of enrolled HIV-positive children. Associations between variables were examined using Pearson correlation coefficients. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test the hypothesis that the relationship of social support to QOL was moderated by perceived stigma. We examined psychological status, which overlaps with symptoms of depression and is one of the six domains in the World Health Organization (WHO) QOL measure, separately and as part of overall QOL. Our sample was 84% female and largely mothers with relatively little formal education. There was a positive association between social support and psychological status (r = 0.42(224), p < 0.001) and a negative association between perceived stigma and psychological status (r = –0.31(226), p < 0.001). The relationship of social support to psychological status was moderated by perceived stigma (β = 0.191, p < 0.05) such that the association between social support and psychological status was positive and stronger for patients reporting high stigma than for patients reporting low stigma. The relationship of social support to overall QOL was not moderated by perceived stigma (β = 0.089, p = 0.397). These results highlight the importance of assessing multiple QOL domains. By examining psychological status separately, we found support for our hypothesis which we would not have found if only overall QOL had been examined. Enhancing social support may be particularly important for those reporting high stigma in improving QOL. As access to antiretroviral therapy increases, so does the relevance of modifiable predictors of QOL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by interactionist and constructivist sociology, this paper focuses on the United Nations Security Council as an arena with its own social rules and bureaucratic routines. It presents the informal position that security council diplomats delegate to specific members of the council, the position of “leader,” when dealing with specific dossiers. Indeed, a change occurred during the 1990s and the early 2000s in how council diplomats considered the task of leading a United Nations peace operation, notably in regard to the use of offensive military. The analysis of this change is documented with empirical material concerning the French leading position in the African Great Lakes region, from Rwanda in 1993 to Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003. A second instance of diplomatic leadership considered is the leading role assumed by the British authorities in Sierra Leone (1991–2002). The new “leadership” role calls on United Nations diplomatic leaders to better protect the credibility of “their” peace operations. It sheds a light on the importance of deterring or incentive messages embedded in routine security council decisions and how routine practices may change when facing critical situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces multinational extraction companies' social and security policies in the ‘community belt’ next to their operations. A comparison between mining companies in the DRC in the early twentieth century and in the period post-2000 shows remarkable continuities in corporate community interventions. It demonstrates how contemporary participatory practices have partly replaced techniques of discipline and coercion seen in the colonial past. However, the discourse of ownership and participation runs alongside exclusionary forms of exercising power that have an old history. The liberal claim of self-determination is compromised by the recourse to indirect rule in order to secure stable working conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article provides a detailed analysis of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel movement that is operating from Congolese soil but so far has attracted very limited scholarly attention. Having its roots in Ugandan Islamic community, it has become part of larger transborder dynamics of rebellion and resistance. It is argued that although its institution is linked to several internal dynamics in Uganda, the movement's character has been largely shaped by the specific characteristics of the Uganda–DRC Rwenzori borderland, where it became a key player of local power struggles and conflicts. The article provides a detailed account of the origins, characteristics and strategies of the ADF, its integration into Congolese society and its impact on local and regional dynamics of conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how Ugandan army commanders have mobilised transborder economic networks to exploit economic opportunities in eastern DRC during the military intervention of the Ugandan People's Defence Force (UPDF) in Congo's wars (1996–97; 1998–2003). These transborder networks are the starting point of our evaluation of the informal political structures and networks linking Uganda's political centre to Congo's war complex. While it is often claimed that military entrepreneurismalism in the DRC has undermined political stability in Uganda, we argue that the activities of Ugandan military entrepreneurs and networks under their control were an integral part of Uganda's governance regime. Crucial to the development of this entrepreneurialism was the existence of pre-war transborder networks of economic exchange that were connecting Congo to eastern African markets. Military control over these highly informalised networks facilitated UPDF commanders’ access to Congo's resources. Rather than operating as privatised sources of accumulation, these military shadow networks were directly linked to the inner circles of the Ugandan regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the increasing use of power-sharing arrangements to manage a wide range of political crises over the past five years it is more important than ever to turn a critical eye on the dynamics and outcomes of unity governments. This paper argues that two key factors shape the way that power-sharing functions in Africa: the distribution of violence (that is, whether any one party has a monopoly on victimhood or whether all parties have committed, and retain the capacity to commit, atrocities) and the level of elite cohesion (whether political leaders have developed norms of mutual accommodation that render it easier to find areas of common-ground). The first half of the paper identifies four main power-sharing dynamics in Africa based on different combinations of the distribution of violence and the level of elite cohesion: the politics of distrust, the politics of collusion, the politics of partisanship and the politics of pacting. The second-half of the paper then draws on evidence from Angola, Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe to illustrate how such variations in the practice of power-sharing shape the prospects for reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Household poverty and poor access to health and other social amenities are key drivers of malnutrition and poor child health in most low-resources settings. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the backdrop of past instability, experiences a host of socio-economic factors that effectively result in malnutrition among under-five children -- despite immense natural resources. Recent stability and enormous mineral resource wealth has attracted mining companies to invest in the eastern provinces of the country, presenting an opportunity to improve the nutritional and overall health status of children in the region. We therefore sought to describe the prevalence of malnutrition in the region, cognisant of these developments. Methods: Seven hundred and sixty-two under-five children from 420 households in two districts in the eastern DRC were assessed in this survey. We calculated their malnutrition indicators and made comparisons between semi-urban and rural children; taking semi-urban as a good proxy for populations within the coverage of mining activities. For each indicator, all children whose appropriate parameters were available were included in the evaluation with a plausible z-score. Results: An estimated 21.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 18.5-24.5) of the children assessed were found to be underweight, with 6.8% being severely underweight. However, the prevalence of wasting among these children was estimated at 5.8% (95% CI: 4.1 %-7.6%), which was lower than the national average of 16%. Of significance, the age groups six to 11 and 12 to 23 months were found to be more wasted compared to other age categories. Within the six- to 11 -months age category, rural children fared better than their semi-urban counterparts at 5% (95% CI: 0%-13%) and 14.6% (95% CI: 13.6%-25.6%) respectively. Conclusion: We conclude that malnutrition among under-five children is a significant problem in the eastern DRC. Business investment in the region offers real opportunities to comprehensively address these pressing challenges that face communities. Businesses keen to address malnutrition need to be cognisant of the prevalence of the problem and its contextual drivers, particularly on the socio-economic front, to be able to conceptualise appropriate responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC, has experienced devastating wars and dictatorships. To rebuild the country, theatre as practised by Tshitenge N'sana can have a unique impact on promoting development at the level of the general population, whom other forms of information cannot reach so effectively due to low levels of literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impressive volumes of wheat production in Russia on the one hand and the good baking quality of Russian wheat on the other hand enabled Russia to become one of the important wheat producers and exporters of the world since the recent few years. However, Russia has a long way to go on the 'front' of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS), i.e. food safety, standards. As part of a larger study, financed by the German Research Foundation, the current research addresses the objective of estimating the potentials of wheat production in Russia under more stringent food safety standards as the current Russian national SPS regulations are. The comparative advantage analysis based on the domestic resource cost (DRC) approach is applied to estimate the possible compliance of Russian norms with European Union (EU) SPS standards. The DRC analysis resulting in a ratio of 0.37 provides evidence of high social profitability of wheat chain in the Stavropol region. Also the scenarios of compliance of Russian food safety norms with those of EU offer plausible solutions with DRC ratios varying within the range of 0.49-0.96 dependent on the fluctuations of model parameters. From the methodological point of view, the paper represents one of the rare cases, where DRC is applied for food safety issues in a transition country context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rwanda is at the centre of one of the key areas for the United Nations' Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) activities: Africa's conflict-prone Great Lakes region. Yet Rwanda has adopted a unique and, in many ways, radically different DDR program to that of its neighbours, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one that finds the UN playing no direct role. In part, this is a consequence of circumstances and experiences. Above all, it reflects sharp contrasts in the quality of leadership and strategic vision within the region. That Rwanda has proved a model for the continent as a whole poses a number of challenges not just to current thinking on DDR in Africa but more especially to wider Security Sector Reform (SSR). Rwanda's successful program begs the question of other conflict-affected countries in the region where peacebuilding has proved less successful: ‘How important is local ownership of DDR in the Great Lakes?’ [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses images of children in international NGO fundraising campaigns on children and conflict in Africa, with a particular focus on the Civil War in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It identifies the key impacts of contemporary civil war in Africa on children and the role of children and young people in these conflicts. The campaigns analysed here use different discursive and rhetorical devices: from melodrama to dispassionate expert. Despite these differences, the academic literature on why children get involved in fighting and the psycho-social impacts of both forced and voluntary participation are elided by these NGOs who frame war as an assemblage of discrete issues that can be made the target of specific interventions. Despite the commitment of these NGOs to human rights and to the idea of the child as a rights-bearing subject, child rights are deployed as a supplement rather than an alternative to established discourses of child saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]