Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) adopted its most recent National Action Plan (NAP) in 2018 for the period 2019-2022. The DRC’s second NAP provides a detailed overview that evaluates the implementation of the first NAP, addressing positive developments and ongoing challenges. The NAP is in tandem with the country’s National Gender Policy with its focus on advancing women’s and girls’ human rights during and after conflict and working against impunity for crimes perpetrated against women and girls. A post-conflict recovery framework also marks the NAP, as the document states that the general objective of the country’s second action plan is “to promote a secure environment that guarantees the fair inclusion of women, men and young people in consolidating peace in the DRC” (p. 10). The NAP identifies 11 objectives, which are compiled under four thematic priority axes: inclusion; prevention; protection; and recovery. While the NAP has a detailed implementation matrix, with specific actions and indicators, it does not have an allocated budget. 

The DRC’s second NAP is preceded by one another NAP, adopted in 2010, without a specific period of implementation. The DRC’s second NAP includes a standalone chapter that serves as a status report for the findings of the implementation of the first NAP, including lessons learned and best practices. Specifically, the NAP states that implementation suffered from a “low awareness of NAP among the general public; poor uptake of NAP by the government; weak support from partners in the implementation of the NAP; and non-inclusion and lack of integration of young women and women living with disability [sic] in the implementation of the NAP,” among others (p. 17). As such, the second NAP is more detailed and substantive, with the inclusion of an implementation matrix that incorporates quantifiable measures into the action plan. Furthermore, the second NAP highlights the importance of disarmament by including “control and reduction of the circulation of small arms and light weapons” as an objective under the second priority axis of prevention. 

The DRC reported on the implementation of its NAP, as well as WPS commitments, in its national reporting for Beijing+25 and in preparation for CSW64 (2020). Specifically, the country included the following among its achievements (p. 46):

  • The establishment of the national secretariat for the implementation of Resolution 1325 in 2015 for better coordination;
  • The establishment of Provincial Secretariats 1325 in 21 out of 26 provinces;
  • The strengthening of the capacities of various members of these committees at both the national and provincial levels;
  • The participation of women in the various dialogues, particularly the OAU City Dialogue or the African Union City Agreement for the organization of peaceful, credible and transparent elections in the DRC (61 women out of 262 participants or 23.2%); global and inclusive political agreement of the interdiocesan center commonly known as the CENCO Agreement or New Year’s Eve Agreement (3 women out of 29 participants or 10.3%);
  • Since 2017, the country has been working to install community early warning mechanisms in the 26 provinces of the DRC, which include men and women of all categories. In addition, as part of police reform, the DRC is striving to expand the establishment of local security councils that include men and women in the prevention and fight against insecurity.

The DRC gained independence from Belgium in 1960, after decades of colonial rule. The country went through a civil war that lasted from 1997 and 2003, resulting in five million casualties. Women were disproportionately impacted by wartime atrocities, with mass rape used as a weapon of war. The DRC has since experienced sporadic acts of violence that continue to mark everyday life in the country. Armed groups are still active in the country’s eastern provinces, and the political situation in the DRC remains volatile due to the uncontrolled flow of small arms and light weapons into the country. In 2019, UNHCR noted that there are over 5 million internally displaced people inside the DRC, while, as of February 2020, over 918,000 refugees and asylum seekers from the DRC were being hosted in African countries. 

CEDAW

1986

Global Gender Gap Index 2020

149 out of 153

Arms Trade Treaty Ratified

NOT RATIFIED

Military expenditure (2019)

$295 million USD

Explore DRC's National Action Plan

  • Actors
  • Timeframe
  • Objectives
  • Actions/Activities
  • Indicators
  • M&E
  • Budget
  • Disarmament

NAP Development

The NAP indicates that representatives of civil society were included in a workshop organized to evaluate the country’s first NAP and provide recommendations for the second version. However, the NAP does not specify which civil society organizations were present during this evaluation process. 

WILPF DRC was involved in the creation of DRC’s NAP by collaborating with the National Secretariat 1325 in organizing two high-level workshops in November 2016 and March 2017 to discuss the roadmaps that would lead to the drafting of DRC’s second NAP.
The development of the NAP was spearheaded by the Ministry of Gender, Family and Children in collaboration with government and civil society representatives as well as technical experts. 
 

NAP Implementation

The NAP includes civil society organizations among the actors that are tasked with implementing some of the objectives. However, the document does not specify which civil society organizations will be represented or how they will contribute to the implementation. 

The NAP identifies a national coordination mechanism, which consists of the Steering Committee, the National Secretariat, and the 1325 Trust Fund, to coordinate the implementation of the NAP. The National Secretariat will be responsible for the day-to-day and overall implementation of the NAP. 

NAP Monitoring and Evaluation

The NAP indicates that the Steering Committee will be responsible for compiling reports on the NAP’s implementation. Both the national Steering Committee and the Provincial Steering Committee will include representatives from civil society. However, the NAP does not specify what the role of the civil society representatives will be. 

The NAP identifies a national coordination mechanism, which consists of the Steering Committee, the National Secretariat, and the 1325 Trust Fund, to coordinate the implementation of the NAP. The Steering Committee, which is mostly composed of government representatives from various ministries, is responsible for compiling the periodic and annual reports on the NAP’s implementation.

The implementation period of the NAP is three years (2019-2022).

The NAP identifies 11 objectives, compiled under the four pillars of UNSCR 1325: participation (referred to in the NAP as “inclusion”), prevention, protection, and recovery. On DRC’s NAP, inclusion has two objectives, prevention has five objectives, protection has two objectives, and recovery has two objectives listed. For example, objective #2 listed under inclusion is: “Helping to raise to 20% the inclusion rate of women and young women in decision-making bodies of socio-political, economic, public and private institutions” (p. 19). 

The NAP has a detailed implementation matrix that breaks down each objective with corresponding anticipated results, indicators, activities, and actors. For example, objective #2 listed under inclusion identifies, “Advocacy to authorities for effective implementation of commitments to promote the inclusion of women in political governance” as one of the activities listed under this objective (p. 28, implementation matrix).  

The NAP identifies several indicators for each objective, outlined on the implementation matrix. For example, objective #2 listed under inclusion identifies, “Percentage of women and young women within decision-making bodies” and “Number of laws revised to be gender-sensitive” as two of the four indicators listed under this objective (p. 28, implementation matrix).

The NAP identifies a national coordination mechanism, which consists of the Steering Committee, the National Secretariat, and the 1325 Trust Fund, to coordinate the implementation of the NAP. The Steering Committee is responsible for compiling the periodic and annual reports on the NAP’s implementation. However, the NAP does not provide further information on how the monitoring and evaluation will be conducted.

The NAP does not contain an allocated or estimated budget. However, the NAP does indicate that a Trust Fund has been set up to obtain financial support for the implementation of the WPS Agenda. The NAP indicates that the Fund will be funded by the government and donors as well as receiving contributions from technical and financial partners.
The NAP does not address disarmament in its objectives or scope of implementation. However, DRC’s Ministry of Defense, Disarmament and Veterans is tasked with implementing several objectives.

Documents and Further Reading

WILPF Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women – Democratic Republic of the Congo (2019)
HRC43: Statement on Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2020)
Is MONUSCO Taking Women's Priorities into Account in its Work? (WILPF, 2020)
Contribution of WILPF DRC to the Universal Periodic Review (2019)
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