Democratic Republic of the Congo—Integrated Governance Activity (IGA); Good Governance Activity (GGA)

More than a decade has passed since the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) adopted a new constitution and began holding free elections, yet the democratic system remains fragile, with few or no basic public services in much of the country. A lack of government accountability and transparency, along with widespread corruption, has led to general public mistrust of politicians and government officials.

Operating within the DRC’s complex local governance, political, and socioeconomic system—which includes multiple layers of interconnected institutions and stakeholders—the Good Governance Activity (GGA)—seeks to improve the transparency and accountability of provincial and local government authorities in managing public financial resources, thus increasing the availability of those resources for local development. This activity builds on USAID’s Integrated Governance Activity (IGA), which worked primarily at the local level, and the successes of previous USAID programs in the DRC, such as the Good Governance Program, IGA supported new leaders to reform government services at the provincial and local levels. The IGA team also trained civil society and private-sector groups to better advocate their needs to elected officials.

GGA also focuses on improving transparency and accountability in the public financial management of mining resources, in line with the Mission’s interagency anti-corruption priorities.

Sample Activities

• Increase participatory and inclusive mechanisms for local and urban development planning by promoting multisectoral coordination in planning on issues such as gender-responsive budgeting and resource distribution.
• Pilot and promote small public-private partnerships for urban planning and innovative solutions, and results-based financing in collaboration with the private sector.
• Provide training for both public officials and civil society to empower women’s voices and influence to hold the government accountable for gender-equitable programming and budgeting.
• Strengthen decentralized territorial entities’ capacity to identify solutions to improve tax collection systems through innovative design with the private sector and youth entrepreneurs.
• Systematically assess and improve local revenue and fee administration to reduce the administrative complexity of the revenue system and reduce opportunities for corruption.
• Pilot and scale mobile solutions to increase citizens’ ability to pay for public services or taxes electronically.
• Support internal and external audit activities in the targeted provincial and decentralized territorial entity governments in collaboration with other donor projects.

Select Results

• IGA strengthened local government finances and own-source revenues substantially.
• IGA conducted community scorecard activities in about 40 schools and 160 health centers; plans for improving services and facilities have been adopted and implemented.
• IGA strengthened local governments’ financial management, which resulted in increased revenue.
• IGA helped staff implement the annual investment budget to follow correct procurement rules for the first time.
• IGA established six community emergency response teams in four provinces.