On May 6th, 2021, Megan Renoir, Dimitri Kotsiras, and Aji Ceesay, Peace Direct‘s Programmes and Research team, led our M&E Thursday Talk discussion on “Escaping ‘Perpetual Beginnings’: Challenges and Opportunities for Local Atrocity Prevention in the DRC”.
Between 2017 and 2020, violence against civilians was up by 54% compared to the previous seven years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Congolese government is unable to provide effective protection of its citizens from atrocities, which means that local people carry out many atrocity prevention activities themselves. However, despite the vital role that civil society groups are playing by stepping in to stop violence, significant gaps remain that impact the effectiveness of local atrocity prevention work.
In our discussion, our hosts will share the challenges and successes in atrocity prevention and identity-based violence work in Eastern DRC, sharing key findings from a recent report by Peace Direct (UK) and Research Initiatives for Social Development (RISD-DRC). They will begin with an overview of the research process and findings, followed by a discussion on the lessons learned. These lessons include insights gained from collaborating with a local research institute. They will elaborate on how this influenced the research process, including the definitions used for the research, the types of findings they chose to highlight, and the eventual advocacy efforts for the project.