Annual Report 2020–2021

This report, presented by CERC’s Administration Board, covers 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021. Part 1 describes our activities and what they changed; Part 2 presents our funds statements.

The last 24 months were hard for our team. COVID-19 hit us badly, and we had to scale down our operations and close our offices in Uvira and Bukavu, South Kivu. The crisis also showed us our weaknesses as an organisation. We have looked at our successes, failures and progress, and we are using what we learned to make CERC stronger.

In 2021, we revised our strategic plan with all staff and board members. Our strategy for 2022–2026 sets four ambitious goals, built on our core values: accountability, innovation, equality and non-discrimination, meaningful participation, equitable partnership, mutual respect and trust. It includes measures to limit the impact of COVID-19, and of future crises, on our work. With it, we show that we are ready to innovate and take bold steps to fulfil our mission: holding the powerful accountable for the common good.

We still work in very difficult conditions, but we expect rich years ahead. We are encouraged by, and grateful for, the support of our existing donors and of the new donors who joined us and kept our work going.

As always, we owe a debt of gratitude first to our staff working on the frontlines of corruption, at significant personal risk, to make integrity work for the people. We continue to be inspired by their bravery and are honoured to work with them.

We could not have reached our goals without our donors and supporters. We are grateful to GPE, Oxfam IBIS and USAID for their support. We thank Twilio.org, which supported our COVID-19 vaccine education project, and the Microsoft Corporation, whose Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences host our professional emails until 2030.

Last but not least, thank you to our staff and to the members of our Advisory Council, who have given much time and effort so that CERC has a lasting, positive impact on people living in poverty.

Heri Bitamala
Executive Director

“We help government, public institutions, businesses, and local communities solve complex problems related to corruption.” CERC was founded in April 2017 to answer three questions:

• How can communities obtain better services using integrity?
• How can we teach integrity to equip the next generation of leaders to say no to corruption?
• How can integrity be a sustainable response to conflict and instability in eastern Congo?

We began to answer them through research and investment in education. This way, we have helped communities and young people build the skills to hold their leaders to account, raised a new generation of ethical leaders, and fought inefficient and corrupt public services and infrastructure projects in the DRC.

Our mission

Our mission is to advance knowledge on the causes and consequences of corruption and support the development of new anti-corruption policies and initiatives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Our vision

We work towards a Congo in which:

• government, politics, businesses and civil society are free from corruption;
• individuals and groups have the knowledge and skills to claim and defend their human rights and the rights of others;
• local leaders emerge who influence decision-makers and hold governments accountable to the needs and aspirations of citizens.

Four goals

In 2020 and 2021, we focused on four strategic goals. They form one integrated whole, each reinforcing the others, and together they reach four critical areas of Congolese society: people, values, institutions and laws.

1. Diagnose corruption issues and use the findings to stimulate more informed debates and design further anti-corruption projects.
2. Build and support partnerships and coalitions of civil society organisations to fight corruption more effectively.
3. Engage citizens and young people in promoting integrity more actively.
4. Build governance foundations, operational structures and processes to scale up anti-corruption and integrity work in other provinces.

How change happens

Development works best when young people take part in solving their communities’ problems, and work with their leaders to make sure their needs are met and public commitments are kept. CERC gives young people the knowledge, skills and tools to develop and implement solutions, in three ways.

• A voice in their own communities. Young people take part in planning and monitoring government programmes where they live. They gain and share the knowledge their communities need to make decisions, and the skills to engage constructively with the authorities and hold officials to account. More youth participation means more public oversight and fewer opportunities for corruption.
• Community feedback. To hold anyone to account, young people need standards that those in charge are expected to meet, indicators to measure performance and monitoring that produces data. Most of our programmes use community monitoring of service quality: citizen reports and community scorecards, citizen budget and expenditure tracking, and media pressure.
• Young people connected to local government. Young people and service providers usually share one goal: better public services. Our programmes encourage dialogue between them, help young people give feedback backed by evidence and data, and prepare the authorities to receive it. The result is better communication, better decisions and better development results.

Why young people matter

Communities cannot thrive if they cannot offer young generations a bright future. We work with young people because:

• they are mobile and dynamic: we can build their know-how and their ability to make decisions, so that they find new ways to support local development;
• they are often left out by hierarchical, opaque and unequal decision-making structures, and with the right tools, knowledge and resources they are best placed to change these systems;
• more than half of the Congolese population is under 40, and this group must help build a system that works better for them;
• they are more connected than ever, with tools to discuss, share and collaborate that let good practices spread from one place to another.

That is why we help young people build the skills to create open, inclusive and responsive institutions, free of corruption. This supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 16, in particular its targets on the rule of law and equal access to justice (16.3), organised crime and illicit financial and arms flows (16.4), corruption and bribery (16.5), effective, accountable and transparent institutions (16.6), responsive, inclusive and representative decision-making (16.7), participation in global governance (16.8), legal identity for all (16.9), public access to information and fundamental freedoms (16.10), national institutions to prevent violence and combat crime and terrorism (16.a), and non-discriminatory laws and policies (16.b).

Our values

• Equality and non-discrimination. Equality, social justice and human dignity for all are pillars of our programmes. We work to overcome the power imbalances behind inequality between men, women and those who identify as neither, in society and within CERC. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or social status, and we work to reduce intersecting forms of discrimination. We prevent violence, discrimination and harassment in all their forms, in our programmes and internal operations.
• Meaningful participation. Participation is a fundamental right and key to empowerment and to all human rights. We create opportunities to participate and build the capacity of those who face barriers. Our team and partners take part in every stage of our projects. We see stakeholders and beneficiaries as agents of change, not mere recipients, and as partners in mutual learning and co-creation. We encourage the free expression of opinions and ideas, and we consider the views of others.
• Accountability. We are accountable to our stakeholders and beneficiaries and act in line with our human rights principles. We keep high standards of integrity and transparency, keep our commitments, communicate our expectations openly, follow up through regular dialogue, and learn from our mistakes.
• Mutual respect and trust. We respect and trust each other and the people we work with. We listen to our colleagues and partners and try to understand them. Open dialogue is critical to our success, and our openness and transparency build confidence and help us fulfil our mission.
• Equitable partnership. Collaboration is fundamental to our mission. We build alliances on a shared vision with those committed to human rights and integrity, in mutually beneficial and sustainable partnerships that respect our partners’ knowledge and experience and serve as a forum for mutual learning. Such partnerships take time and energy, and open dialogue to address power dynamics.
• Innovation. We aim to be at the forefront of integrity and anti-corruption education, to respond to the changing needs of our communities. We use new technology and learning to widen the reach and impact of our programmes, and we learn from experience to create innovative solutions.

The project will set up Integrity Clubs in 150 secondary schools. It will teach young people about the harm corruption does, and give them the skills and knowledge to monitor the reform set out in the DRC Education and Training Sector Strategy 2016–2025, in 6 municipalities of South Kivu and 6 municipalities of Kinshasa. The goal: students, especially girls, receive accountable, inclusive, equitable and quality education services.

To get there, the project will make sure that (a) students, teachers and parents can successfully demand that the reform meets students’ needs; (b) Integrity Clubs¹ are established in the education system; (c) education authorities are committed and able to deliver quality change; and (d) transparent consultation and collaboration become standard practice in South Kivu and Kinshasa and are replicated across the country.

¹ In Integrity Clubs, students representing all groups discuss integrity and learn skills to become active citizens: how to access information and know their rights, how to engage powerholders, and how to monitor education services and infrastructure with the tech tool EduCheck.

Year Zero, the preparation phase funded through Education Out Loud (Operational Component 2), let CERC gather evidence with students, teachers, parents, civil society and education officials, build its team’s skills and write the project with them. Because of COVID-19, workshops were limited to 20 participants, so more of them were held.

May–July 2021Evidence from the field

In 2021, CERC brought together over 600 education stakeholders for a series of consultations on improving accountability in education. It consulted 534 students (271 boys and 263 girls), 39 principals and 50 teachers, 21 parents’ committees, 19 representatives of 8 civil society organisations working in education, and 12 senior education officials.

In June and July 2021, CERC also ran in-depth assessments and studies of corruption and lack of accountability in education with 54 senior government education officials and 19 accountability practitioners and anti-corruption experts from civil society organisations, teachers’ unions and religious associations. The work included 4 consultative workshops, the Integrity KAP Survey in 41 secondary schools in South Kivu and Kinshasa, and a review of existing studies on corruption, youth participation and accountability.

Methods included participative workshops on what motivates young people to act, formal meetings with the Provincial Directorates and Ministries of Education of South Kivu and Kinshasa and with the National Ministry of Education, and 16 key informant interviews. Evidence was collected over 40 days, then analysed and written up in three weeks.

What the evidence showed

The study of the Integrity Club model found that:

• students aged 14 to 18 are highly positive agents of change, motivated to improve the services and projects delivered to their communities;
• teaching young people the benefits of integrity, and the skills to practise and demand it, gives them the confidence to choose integrity over corruption;
• Integrity Clubs encourage young people to keep taking part in civil society;
• education officials and service providers who expect to be monitored by students are encouraged to act with integrity;
• even where the status of girls is low, over 40% of the monitors trained by CERC are girls.

July 2021Four consultative workshops

Four consultative workshops brought together organisations working in education and Ministry of Education officials to discuss the challenges of transparency and accountability in the sector, and how to overcome them. Civil society was represented by the national association of parents of students, the parents’ associations of Catholic and Protestant schools, three teachers’ unions, the African Zone League for the Defence of Children and Students’ Rights and the National Coalition for Education for All, with 9 participants from 6 faith-based education coordinations. With 12 senior officials of the Ministry of Education, the workshop focused on bringing Integrity Clubs into every secondary school and the Integrity Education Handbook into the national curriculum.

July–September 2021Writing the project

Building on these results, the whole programme team defined the project’s context, objectives, outcomes and outputs, its theory of change and overall strategy, the monitoring framework and the budget, and wrote the proposal. Year Zero produced a GESI strategy, a KAP baseline survey, the theory of change and a research report with recommendations for integrity education and student-led monitoring in secondary schools. The full proposal process ended on 21 January 2022.

What the research changed

• Reliable references on corruption and lack of accountability in the DRC are now available to the public and to stakeholders.
• Senior education officials, teachers, students, principals and parents know more precisely which corruption issues matter to students and to the whole education sector. This awareness will generate a stronger reaction to corrupt acts and a stronger demand for integrity.
• 2 projects to improve the transparency and accountability of education policy were developed from the research findings.

Targets are CERC’s share of the SHINE results framework; full figures in the SHINE project report 2017–2020. “–”: not reported.

In June 2021, the UNCAC Coalition Secretariat commissioned CERC, an active member of the Coalition, to write the civil society parallel assessment of the DRC’s implementation of the UNCAC in its second review cycle. The assessment covers Chapter II (Preventive Measures) and Chapter V (Asset Recovery).

Between 11 June and 1 December 2021, CERC met state and non-state actors to collect data and assess how the DRC applies the UNCAC in law and in practice. The findings fed a parallel civil society report on the DRC’s efforts, its good practices and the gaps in its preventive and punitive anti-corruption and asset recovery measures.

The report shares a hundred recommendations with the Government of the DRC. It will be shared widely with policymakers and the sector, used in briefings to several coalitions and referenced by the UN.

What the assessment covered

• Prevention: preventive anti-corruption policies and practices (Article 5); preventive anti-corruption bodies (Article 6); public sector employment (Article 7.1); codes of conduct, conflicts of interest and asset declarations (Articles 7, 8 and 12); reporting mechanisms and whistleblower protection (Articles 8.1, 8.4 and 13.2); political financing (Article 7.3); public procurement (Article 9.1); management of public finances (Article 9); the judiciary and prosecution service (Article 11); private sector transparency (Article 12); access to information and participation of society (Articles 10 and 13.1); and measures to prevent money laundering (Article 14).
• Asset recovery: anti-money laundering (Articles 52 and 58); measures for direct recovery of property (Articles 53 and 56); confiscation tools (Article 54); international cooperation for purposes of confiscation (Articles 51, 54, 55, 56 and 59); and the return and disposal of confiscated property (Article 57).

19–23 October 2021The Anti-Corruption States-General

CERC took part in the Anti-Corruption States-General organised by the Ministry of Justice with the support of the UNDP, under the project to support the fight against corruption in the DRC. The States-General set out to diagnose the root causes and state of corruption in the DRC, build consensus on the priority actions and reforms needed for a significant and lasting reduction in corruption, propose recommendations and agree on how to implement and follow them up.

Over the 5-day meeting, CERC shared its proposals and recommendations for the effective implementation of anti-corruption measures in the DRC. Invited as an expert, it spoke on preventing corruption: its approach to strengthening public integrity, the use of technology to promote transparency and accountability in public services, and the introduction of an integrity education course in schools. It also discussed with government officials the transparency of the UNCAC review mechanism and the role of civil society.

29 November – 3 December 2021A new national strategy

CERC was invited to the development and validation workshop of the New National Anti-Corruption Strategy, organised by the APLC. The APLC developed the strategy with state and non-state experts, building on the 2010 national strategy and the recommendations of the 2021 Anti-Corruption States-General.

A coordination mechanism in the DRC

In 2021, CERC consulted national and local anti-corruption organisations – LUCOCO, ACAJ, COCOCULO and ODEP – to set up a coordination mechanism. It will host regular dialogue and exchange of information among these organisations and individuals, such as the high-level anti-corruption dialogue.

The mechanism aims to make better use of resources and expertise in anti-corruption projects. It also helps anti-corruption institutions and advocates share experience and knowledge, so that they keep improving their work and adapt their strategy in time.

Global networks

• In 2020, CERC was accredited as an ordinary member of the UNCAC Coalition, a global network of over 350 civil society organisations in over 100 countries, committed to promoting the ratification, implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention against Corruption.
• In 2020, CERC was approved as a member of Catalyst 2030, a global movement of social innovators working to achieve the SDGs.

Youth Excel was launched on 19 July 2021 for 13 months, with technical support from Search for Common Ground. It supports young leaders and youth-led and youth-serving organisations in Kinshasa to conduct quality implementation research, use data and learning to improve their own cross-sectoral, positive youth development programmes, and share what they learn. Through intergenerational dialogue, young people and adult decision-makers then shape data-informed development policies, agendas and programmes together. Through Youth Excel, CERC deepened its commitment to young people’s role in local development by supporting 10 youth-led initiatives across Kinshasa.

Implementation research is a mixed-methods approach to collecting data while a programme runs, in order to improve it. It helps teams adapt tested programmes to new contexts, scale up, achieve cost-effectiveness and strengthen impact.

Youth Excel answers a shared aim of USAID, IREX and CERC: to empower young people to solve local, national and global development challenges with data and research. It tackles the barriers that keep youth from leading development, such as the lack of a broadly credible evidence base for youth programmes and other obstacles that stop young people from influencing policy and funding decisions. It will build the global knowledge base on cross-sectoral youth development, support USAID’s Global LEAD initiative, expand USAID’s Youth Lead network and advance USAID’s Journey to Self-Reliance agenda on sustainable local development.

Results in 2021

• 10 youth-led and youth-serving organisations – including 1 LGBTQI-led organisation and 2 organisations led by people living with disability – were selected to form the ICON in Kinshasa.
• 6 CERC staff members were trained in Positive Youth Development, the implementation research approach, and gender equality and social inclusion.
• 20 participants from the 10 ICON organisations were trained in the implementation research approach and in gender equality and social inclusion.

What the project aims for

• Diverse young people in Kinshasa create and lead data-informed, inclusive youth development at local, national and global levels.
• Youth-led and youth-serving programmes get better at gathering and using evidence to strengthen and expand their impact.
• Young people in Kinshasa share what their implementation research teaches, so that evidence informs programmes and policies.
• Young people and adults in Kinshasa use data as an inclusive, intergenerational language to work together and inform decisions.
• Youth-led, place-based networks bring together public, private and civil society actors to expand development impact.

How

• Support youth organisations and networks, including issue-based collaborative networks, to tackle local development issues through implementation research.
• Strengthen skills in digital leadership, data leadership and advocacy.
• Be inclusive: prioritise gender and social inclusion, and use power equity tools in every activity.
• Support implementation research by strengthening networks of young researchers in Kinshasa.
• Strengthen intergenerational partnerships through issue-based collaborative networks and data summits that bring youth and adults together.
• Engage the public and private sectors in partnerships that support youth-led data and learning.
• Promote research by synthesising and sharing young people’s evidence and learning.
• Support advocacy that uses youth-led research and adults’ support to influence development agendas and policies.

In the mentors’ words

“Using the Positive Youth Development approach, YOUTH EXCEL mobilises young people from different marginalised groups, in a constructive and productive way, by giving them the support they need to develop their leadership and improve the delivery of their programme.”

Maganga Masembe Éden, Facilitator and Mentor (translated from French)

“Youth Excel let young people and youth organisations discover the magic, the power and the strength of working together. Working in pairs, young people and their organisations learned from each other. The ‘Research to change’ approach also helped them improve their internal programmes and talk with decision-makers and adults, so that together they can advance youth development programmes based, this time, on data from their own research.”

Matyabo Sifa Muriel, Facilitator and Mentor (translated from French)

CERC is very grateful for this recognition and the opportunities it presents for our global advocacy work. We will use this Consultative Status to strengthen our work championing anti-corruption, human rights, and governance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Heri Bitamala, Executive Director

ECOSOC is the central forum for policy recommendations to Member States and the UN system. It engages a wide range of stakeholders in dialogue on sustainable development through programmatic meetings.

Consultative status gives NGOs, depending on its level, several rights to take part in the UN’s work, present their views and deliver testimony. Organisations with general and special status can attend the Council’s meetings and circulate statements. Status gives access to ECOSOC and its many subsidiary bodies, to the UN’s human rights mechanisms, to ad hoc processes on small arms, and to special events organised by the President of the UN General Assembly. Special status goes to NGOs with special competence in a few of the fields ECOSOC covers.

CERC’s work straddles corruption and human rights. Special consultative status will make our advocacy at the UN easier, with access to high-level sessions and easier participation in these processes. The status follows a rigorous application and a thorough vetting of an organisation’s governance and financial systems, and of its credibility as a leader in its field.

“CERC’s participation in the work of ECOSOC is an opportunity to make the voice of civil society heard, together with our recommendations, at the highest level, on serious human rights violations and on the measures to take in the fight against corruption.”

Jonathan Musa Nzamu, Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer (translated from French)

A national organisation

CERC moved its headquarters from Uvira to Kinshasa, from local to national level. It is now registered nationally with the Ministry of Justice, with full legality and legitimacy to fight corruption across the country. CERC also mobilised a group of eminent individuals who will establish a sustainable presence in Kinshasa, South Kivu and North Kivu.

CERC started as a non-profit association in 2017. Its operations are governed by its Statutes of 15 April 2017 (amended in May 2021). It is registered under Law 004/2001 as a Public Utility Organisation, under registration number F92/42579.

Stronger systems and skills

• In January 2021, CERC hired a consultancy firm to develop its Organisation Development Plan, governance systems manual and policies. All the legal frameworks and policies it needs, including bylaws, financial management manuals, and safeguarding and anti-corruption policies, are now in place and applied. CERC and its core members are strongly committed to meeting donors’ criteria and requirements.
• Drawing on national expertise, 6 staff members received 2 trainings, in Adaptive Learning and Theory of Change development, from learning experts hired by Oxfam IBIS under the Education Out Loud Year Zero project.
• In August 2021, under the learning agenda developed in Year Zero, CERC hired a consultancy firm to give all staff tailor-made training in programme design and management; MEAL; advocacy and policy engagement; finance management and internal audit; and human resources and logistics management.
• Year Zero also trained the programme team in programme development and management and in monitoring, evaluation and learning; in adaptive management and theory of change; and in bringing human rights, gender and inclusion into programme design, implementation and evaluation. In October 2021, 6 programme staff were trained in high-level advocacy and policy engagement.
• A due diligence action plan, drawn up and implemented during Year Zero, strengthened CERC’s governance and management systems.

Good governance

Our governing structure is transparent, complies with the relevant laws and follows best governance practice. We have:

• a governing body that supervises and evaluates the Executive Director and oversees programme and budget matters. It sets the overall strategy in line with our mission, and makes sure that resources are used efficiently and appropriately, that performance is measured, that financial integrity is assured and that social commitment is maintained;
• written procedures for the appointment, responsibilities and terms of governing body members, and to prevent and manage conflicts of interest;
• a regular General Meeting with authority to appoint and replace governing body members.

The Board meets quarterly. Its role is governance and strategic oversight: it approves the budget and the operational and strategic plans, appoints the President and Chief Executive, and approves overall staff employment policy. It also contributes through sub-committees, by approving strategy and new policies, and by advising on fundraising. It decides significant issues that affect CERC’s public image, such as whether to endorse other organisations’ campaigns or engage in fundraising that might be deemed sensitive, and any issue with significant legal implications. All other decisions are delegated to the Chief Executive, who consults Board members collectively or individually where they have expertise or are likely to have strong views.

Professional management

• Financial controls: internal procedures make sure all funds are used effectively and minimise the risk of misuse. We follow best practice in financial management.
• Evaluation: we keep improving our effectiveness, with evaluation procedures for our board, staff, programmes and projects based on mutual accountability.
• Partners: we make sure our partners also meet the highest standards of honesty and accountability, and have no dealings with organisations or people involved in illegal or unethical practices.
• Human resources: our success reflects the quality of our staff, volunteers and management, and we invest in their development. Pay and benefits balance public expectations of non-profit organisations with the need to attract and keep the staff our mission requires. Our policies comply fully with international and national labour regulations, apply best voluntary sector practice on the rights, safety, health and hygiene and work–life balance of team members and volunteers, and include regular performance evaluation of all staff.
• Bribery and corruption: our policies expressly prohibit bribery or corruption by staff or anyone working for or on behalf of CERC.
• Whistleblowers: staff are encouraged to alert management to any activity that may not comply with the law or with our mission and commitments.

Our policies

Our legitimacy comes from the quality of our work and from the recognition and support of the people with and for whom we work, of our donors and of the wider public. CERC is committed to openness, transparency and honesty about its structures, objectives, policies and activities. We communicate actively with stakeholders and make information public.

As a small organisation, we know how hard it is to formalise policies and procedures, so we share ours and update them on an ongoing basis. Feel free to use and adapt them. They cover: 001 human resources; 002 administration, finance, accounting and procurement; 003 general risk management; 004 travel; 005 environment protection; 006 safeguarding; 007 gender equality and social inclusion; 008 data protection; 009 social media; 010 human trafficking; 011 recruitment and staff evaluation, with 011.2 the CERC organogram; 012 anti-corruption and gifts; 013 anti-harassment and complaint procedure; and 014 conflicts of interest. They are completed by our bylaws (001) and membership policy (002).

• Anti-corruption policy. In 2020, CERC revised its Anti-Corruption and Anti-Bribery Policy to align it with evolving best accountability practice in the non-profit sector. It aims to prevent fraud and corruption in CERC-supported projects and contracts at local and national levels, and can be downloaded.
• Whistleblowing policy. It supports staff and stakeholders to speak up about unacceptable behaviour and wrongdoing, through an independent, confidential reporting mechanism for those who do not feel comfortable reporting malpractice to the relevant CERC governance body.
• Child protection policy. CERC’s clear and unequivocal safeguarding policy aims to make sure that no child or young person associated with CERC comes to harm. CERC has zero tolerance for bullying, discriminatory behaviour and sexual harassment.

• Key stakeholders must take part in every phase of a proposal, not only in the initial analysis. Their participation made the project respond to the need for more advocacy and accountability in education.
• The programme team needs strong skills in research, project development and budgeting.
• Female students reported sexual harassment and sexual bribery in exchange for grades. There was not enough time to study these issues, and CERC committed to research them further.

CERC rated the process followed during Year Zero as satisfactory, and the final products – proposal, logical framework, budget and monitoring framework – and the learning outputs as highly satisfactory.

From research to action

To build public acceptance, partnership and ownership of our research findings, CERC will:

• hold a press conference to publish the Civil Society Report on the DRC’s implementation of the UNCAC between 2016 and 2021;
• work closely with the APLC, anti-corruption civil society organisations, the media and professional research institutes to advocate with government bodies for the recommendations to be implemented.

Coalitions against corruption

Fighting corruption takes widespread public engagement, and people equipped to act. In 2022, CERC will build and support coalitions of institutions and individuals across the DRC: government ministries, NGOs, young people and students, the media, private companies, law enforcement institutions and local authorities. Wherever possible, joint projects will tackle corruption and promote accountability and transparency, carried out by the institutions and organisations concerned in cooperation with the APLC. We expect that:

• resources to fight corruption will be shared more effectively and efficiently among key stakeholders, with regular opportunities to learn;
• cooperation and networking among many anti-corruption stakeholders will multiply the impact of their work;
• more individuals and organisations in the coalition will give it more influence to advocate for better anti-corruption policies and law enforcement.

Young people and schools

• Work with 10 parliamentarians, 50 senior education officials and 6 NGOs to embed anti-corruption and transparency protocols in the education sector.
• Set up 150 Integrity Clubs and 150 Education Clusters in selected secondary schools in Kinshasa and South Kivu.
• Train and support 2,250 students aged 14 to 19 to become active agents of positive change, who champion anti-corruption and accountability and demand that education reforms meet their needs.

We expect students to have more opportunities, and more encouragement, to promote integrity in education; to receive integrity education through formal or informal programmes, and uphold these values as they enter the workforce and create greater demand for integrity in society; the Ministry of Education to agree to include an anti-corruption and integrity course in the curriculum; and youth organisations and networks to launch and lead initiatives that bring more young voices to the fore in the DRC.

A stronger CERC

As CERC builds and monitors its institutional capacity, it will increasingly be seen in 2022 as a bridge to national anti-corruption resources and expertise, and will begin to become one of the DRC’s capacity development institutions for anti-corruption work.

• We want CERC to be one of the best places to work. By the end of 2022, we will put in place a transparent, effective and fair staff and human resources management system, and make sure that at least 50% of all staff and volunteers are women and at least 75% of interns come from less privileged and diverse backgrounds.
• By the end of 2022, CERC’s headquarters will have the documentation and financial management systems it needs, and will work with strict financial transparency and accountability; the headquarters and provincial offices will use QuickBooks for financial management.
• In 2022, we aim for over 100,000 followers on our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn), 8 million people reached by and engaging with our posts, and over 300,000 visitors to our website.
• CERC’s Board will bring together eminent people from diverse backgrounds and expertise: development, human rights, democratic governance, youth development, the private sector and capacity development.
• CERC’s Executive Director and Board will take part in regional and international anti-corruption events, to learn from and network with partners and international experts.
• Mutual understanding, trust and confidence between Congolese institutions and CERC will improve.

This review covers the 2020 and 2021 financial years. It is based on CERC’s consolidated statements of financial activities (fund accountability statements) for 2020 and 2021, and on the audit reports on CERC’s 2020 and 2021 accounts by the firm Group BEAG (lead auditor: ALUMA Armand, chartered accountant), signed in Uvira on 3 February 2021 and 28 January 2022. All amounts are in US dollars. The 2020 and 2021 accounts have been audited (notes 4 to 10). Notes 1 to 3 reproduce CERC’s fund accountability statements as prepared before the audits; where the 2021 audit differs from them, this review uses the audited figures and note 10 explains each difference.

Funding of our workWhat funded the activities in Part 1

• This report’s fund accountability statement complies with CERC’s Articles of Association and its accounting and reporting procedures.
• COVID-19 hit CERC’s fundraising badly in 2020 and 2021: CERC had to scale down its operations and close its offices in Uvira and Bukavu, South Kivu.
• Year Zero – Students Acting for Accountability and Quality of Education. In 2021, the Global Partnership for Education gave CERC US$23,986.00 through Oxfam IBIS, under Education Out Loud (Operational Component 2), to prepare the project. CERC received the funds in mid-June 2021, about three months after the period began, and adjusted its work plan. The evidence work cost US$7,540, from the stakeholder analysis and data collection to the theory of change, the GESI strategy and the reports.
• Youth Excel – Youth Represent DRC. In 2021, USAID gave CERC US$32,506.71 through IREX to run Youth Excel in Kinshasa.
• In-kind support. Twilio.org gave CERC US$6,500 for its COVID-19 vaccine education project, and Microsoft’s Microsoft 365 Business Premium licences, worth US$24,000, host CERC’s professional emails until 2030.
• Budget execution. According to the independent audit of CERC’s 2020 accounts, 88% of the 2020 budget was spent.

All projectsConsolidated statement – all projects

Income, expenditure and balances of all projects combined, for 2021 compared with 2020.

Statement of funds, by grant

For each grant: the balance brought forward from the previous year, the funds received, the funds spent, the funds returned to the donor or transferred to another grant (and adjustments), and the balance carried forward. A negative balance means spending ahead of funding. Each line says whether its figures are audited, and by which audit.

BudgetBudget and actual

Budget and actual, 2021

2021 audit by Group BEAG, note 2.

Restricted fundsFunded projects

In 2020 and 2021, CERC’s income came from grants for specific projects.

Amounts received in 2020 (2020 audit, notes 1 and 4) and in 2021 (2021 audit, note 10).

• Building Integrity in the DRC – Funded by the US Department of State’s INL through Accountability Lab: staff salaries, a rent contribution, office set-up, electricity, communication and bank fees (note 1).
• Students Acting for Honesty, Integrity and Equality – Staff salaries, engagement with schools, training and capacity building, Integrity Clubs expenses and monitoring, and advocacy and policy engagement (note 1).
• Covid-19 Vaccine Education Project – CERC’s Covid-19 vaccine education project, supported by Twilio.org.
• Microsoft 365 – Microsoft 365 Business Premium Licenses, which host CERC’s professional emails until 2030.
• UNCAC Parallel Civil Society Report – The civil society parallel assessment of the DRC’s implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, covering Chapter II (Preventive Measures) and Chapter V (Asset Recovery): honorarium for researchers and evidence collection and analysis (note 2).
• Youth Excel – A 13-month project, launched in Kinshasa on 19 July 2021 with technical support from Search for Common Ground, that supports youth-led and youth-serving organizations to conduct implementation research; in 2021, 10 organizations formed the ICON (note 2).
• Students Acting for Accountability and Quality of Education – to establish Integrity Clubs in 150 secondary schools in Kinshasa and South Kivu; in 2021, the funds received (US$23,986.00) covered capacity building, evidence collection and analysis, the development of tools and strategies, and proposal development (note 2).

IncomeIncome

In 2020, CERC received US$49,971.95 from its two project donors: US$18,651.75 from Accountability Lab and US$31,320.20 from Integrity Action (note 1). The audited accounts also include the Twilio grant (US$6,500) and the Microsoft licenses (US$24,000), bringing 2020 income to US$80,471.95, with no variance between the amounts expected and received (note 4).

In 2021, according to the audit, incoming resources amounted to US$69,304.96: US$32,506.71 from USAID through IREX for Youth Excel, US$23,986.00 from GPE through OXFAM IBIS, US$3,431.50 from the UNCAC Coalition and US$9,380.75 of CERC’s own resources, used for office equipment. With the US$9,945.59 balance of 2020, CERC had US$79,250.55 available (note 10).

ExpenditureExpenditure

In 2020, CERC spent US$40,026.36 on the two projects of the fund accountability statement: US$27,798.84 on Students Acting for Honesty, Integrity and Equality – mainly staff salaries (US$15,605.58) and engagement with schools (US$4,799.45) – and US$12,227.52 on Building Integrity in the DRC (note 1). Including the Twilio and Microsoft funds, audited expenditure amounted to US$70,526.36 against a budget of US$80,471.95, an execution rate of 88%: staff costs, running costs and equipment were spent in full, and program activity expenditure reached 79% of its budget (notes 5 and 6).

The unspent balances of the two projects at 31 December 2020 – US$6,424.23 for Building Integrity in the DRC (US$6,423.43 in the fund accountability statement, note 10) and US$3,521.36 for Students Acting for Honesty, Integrity and Equality (note 1) – appear as short-term debts to Accountability Lab and Integrity Action in the statement of assets and liabilities (note 9).

In 2021, according to the audit, expenditure and refunds amounted to US$66,237.48: US$23,761.50 on Youth Excel, including US$18,150.72 in salaries and fringe benefits; US$23,239.50 on the Year Zero of Students Acting for Accountability and Quality of Education (US$23,309.86 in the Year Zero finance report to Oxfam IBIS); US$3,431.50 on the UNCAC parallel report; US$9,380.75 of office equipment bought with CERC’s own resources; and the refund of US$6,424.23 to Accountability Lab – a bank transfer of US$6,367.73 plus bank fees (notes 2, 3 and 10). At 31 December 2021, Youth Excel had a balance of US$8,745.21 and the Year Zero a balance of US$746.50.

CERC’s audited cash was US$9,945.59 at 31 December 2020, held at Trust Merchant Bank (note 7), and US$13,013.07 at 31 December 2021 – US$12,683.07 in bank and US$330 in cash – all of it owed to projects: US$8,745.21 to Youth Excel (USAID/IREX), US$3,521.36 to Integrity Action and US$746.50 to GPE/Oxfam IBIS for the Year Zero (note 10). The fund accountability statements showed net positions of US$9,944.79 and US$12,942.86; note 10 explains the differences.

AuditIndependent auditor’s report

CERC's annual accounts for the 2020 financial year, from 1^st January to 31 December 2020, were audited and certified by the firm Group BEAG (Bureau d'Études, Audit et Capacitation en Gestion), based in Uvira (South Kivu), under the direction of its lead auditor, ALUMA Armand, chartered accountant. The audit report was signed in Uvira on 03 February 2021.

Based on the checks carried out, our opinion is that the financial statements of CERC “Centre de Recherche sur l'Anti-corruption”, closed at 31 December 2020 by CERC's finance and accounting services, give a true and fair view, in all material respects, of its situation and position at 31 December 2020, in accordance with accounting rules, CERC's procedures and the donors' guidelines for the justification of expenditure.

(translated from French)

The figures of the audit report are reproduced in notes 4 to 9 as they appear in the original, with the differences noted below note 9.

CERC’s accounts for 2021 were audited by the same firm, whose report was signed in Uvira on 28 January 2022: “the financial statements of CERC […] closed at 31 December 2021 […] give a true and fair view, in all material respects, of its situation and position at 31 December 2021” (translated from French). The audit report is published on cerc.cd, with personal contact details and the bank account number removed; its figures are in note 10.

Funding policyOur sources of funding

CERC is funded by donors and partners, directly or through partner organizations, through grants restricted to projects: in 2020, the US Department of State (INL) through Accountability Lab, and Integrity Action, with the support of Twilio.org and Microsoft; in 2021, the UNCAC Coalition, USAID through IREX, and the Global Partnership for Education through OXFAM IBIS, while CERC used its own resources (US$9,380.75) to equip its office. Each project is accounted for separately, by project and donor, and internal financial control procedures ensure that all funds are used effectively. The COVID-19 crisis significantly impacted fundraising in 2020 and 2021, and CERC reduced its operations by closing the Uvira and Bukavu offices in South Kivu.

Note 1Statement of financial activities, year ended December 2020

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (Including Income and Expenditure Account), by project and donor. The “Ref.” column gives the note references of the original statement.

Fund accountability statement prepared by CERC for 2020; the audited 2020 figures are given in notes 4 to 9.

Note 2Statement of financial activities, year ended December 2021 (before audit)

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (Including Income and Expenditure Account), by project and donor.

Fund accountability statement prepared by CERC before the 2021 audit (not audited); the audited 2021 figures and the differences are given in note 10.

Note 3Bank transfer and net position, 2021 (before audit)

Prepared by CERC before the 2021 audit (not audited); see note 10 for the audited balance of US$13,013.07.

Note 4Audited income by donor, 2020 (USD)

Projects concerned:

Note 5Audited expenditure by donor, 2020 (USD)

Note 6Expenditure by budget line, 2020: budgeted and actual

Note 7Cash position at 31 December 2020 (USD)

The cash balance is held in CERC's bank account at TMB.

Note 8Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 December 2020 — assets (USD)

Note 9Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 December 2020 — liabilities (USD)

The figures are reproduced as they appear in the audit report. In the original, Microsoft's expected and budgeted amount is printed “2,4000” for 24,000; Accountability Lab's variance is given as 6,423.43, whereas 18,651.75 − 12,227.52 = 6,424.23 (the amount shown under liabilities, and the only one that gives the total of 9 945,59); the 2020 income in the cash position (73,741.61) differs from the income in the statement of income (80,471.95) by an amount equal to the balance at 31 December 2019 (6,730.34).

Source: audit report of Group BEAG (lead auditor: ALUMA Armand, chartered accountant), 3 February 2021 (translated from French). Full report: 2020 audit report (PDF). Full 2021 report: 2021 audit report (PDF).

Note 102021 audit and reconciliation with the fund accountability statement

The 2021 accounts were audited by Group BEAG (report signed in Uvira on 28 January 2022). The table compares the fund accountability statement prepared by CERC before the audit (note 2) with the audited figures used in this review; each difference is explained below it.