CERC is launching an ambitious initiative to build integrity and anti-corruption measures in the education sector. This initiative takes the form of a Draft Law aimed at incorporating Integrity Clubs and an Integrity Education course in all secondary schools across the country.
CERC, an organization dedicated to promoting integrity and transparency, developed this proposed law in collaboration with Members of Parliament (APNAC DRC), education experts and civil society actors.. The primary objective is to raise awareness among students from a young age about the principles of integrity, civic responsibility, and anti-corruption efforts.
The Integrity Clubs outlined in this proposed law will be dynamic structures within schools, composed of elected students tasked with promoting integrity and transparency. Concurrently, the Integrity Education course integrated into the regular school curriculum will educate students on ethical issues and civic responsibility.
This initiative represents a major step forward in the fight against corruption in the DRC, as it aims to instill integrity values from an early age and mobilize students as key actors in this struggle. It also aligns with a broader effort to strengthen institutions and promote good governance.
CERC and the parliamentarians who are members of APNAC RDC call for widespread support from the population and civil society actors to make this proposed law a concrete reality. Together, we can work towards a future where integrity and transparency are the cornerstones of our education system and society as a whole.
9 youth-led and youth-serving organizations trained under Youth Excel’s ICONproject joined their effort to design and implement a Joint Quick Impact (QIP) Project “Socio-Economic Reintegration of 45 Unemployed and Underrepresented Youth in Kinshasa. The primary objective of this QIP is to provide comprehensive support to 45 young people who currently face challenges in accessing sustainable employment opportunities and are marginalized within society. Through a multi-faceted approach, the project seeks to empower these youth with the skills, resources, and knowledge necessary to reintegrate them into the socio-economic fabric of Kinshasa.
The project encompasses a range of activities tailored to the specific needs of the participants. These activities may include vocational training, capacity-building workshops, mentorship programs, and access to crucial resources for job-seeking and entrepreneurship. By offering a holistic support system, the project aims to not only equip the participants with practical skills but also boost their confidence and self-efficacy.
Furthermore, the project places a strong emphasis on fostering a sense of community and collaboration among the participants. This is achieved through various group activities, networking opportunities, and the creation of a supportive environment where these young individuals can exchange ideas and experiences.
The “Socio-Economic Reintegration of 45 Unemployed and Underrepresented Youth in Kinshasa” project aspires to break the cycle of unemployment and underrepresentation among this demographic, paving the way for a more inclusive and empowered youth population in Kinshasa. Through this initiative, the participating organizations aim to contribute to the larger goal of building a more equitable and prosperous society for all.
Youth Represent DRC is part of the activities carried out under USAID’s global Youth Excel: Our Knowledge, Leading Change program, led by IREX. Through Youth Excel, youth-led and youth-serving organizations in Kinshasa collaborate and conduct implementation research, learning how to strengthen the inclusion of underrepresented and marginalized youth in education and workforce development in DRC.
Youth Excel Kinshasa Data Summit: Increasing youth inclusion in education and in workforce development programmes
CERC in partnership with IREX and SFCG, held the issue-Based Collaborative Networks (ICONs) Data Summit in Kinshasa in August 2022. The event was part of the Youth Excel’s ICONs, a youth participatory research project in Kinshasa and North-Kivu, that aimed to improve youth’s ability to sustain positive livelihood-related outcomes for underrepresented youth and support them in advancing development agendas. Through the project, diverse youth leaders, alongside local youth-led and youth-serving organizations, participated and designed research to inform priorities and programming, compiled in final knowledge products.
The summit provided an opportunity for ICONs participants to present their final knowledge products to a diverse range of stakeholders under the umbrella of “Increasing inclusion of underrepresented and marginalized young people in education and in workforce development programmes”.
18 young leaders trained in leadership and entrepreneurship skills
We are thrilled to share that 9 incredible youth-led and youth-serving organizations, including one LGBTQI-led organization and 2 organizations led by People Living with Disabilities, have successfully completed inclusive professional training programs!
These programs have taken a forward-thinking and holistic approach to skill development, covering a diverse range of disciplines. From Computer Sciences, unlocking opportunities in the digital world, to practical and economically impactful skills like Sewing, Breadmaking, and Milk Manufacturing.
This initiative goes beyond just equipping youth with practical skills. It also aims to foster a sense of inclusivity and empowerment among marginalized communities. By addressing the unique needs of LGBTQI individuals and those living with disabilities, we are actively contributing to the creation of a more equitable and inclusive society.
Kudos to all the organizations involved and a huge shoutout to CERC for spearheading this amazing initiative! Let’s continue to support and uplift marginalized communities, together.
300 students trained in anti-corruption mechanisms
From 2 to 15 November 2022, a series of workshops were conducted in South Kivu and Kinshasa, with the participation of 300 students. These workshops were organized under the “Students Act for Accountability and Quality in Education in the DRC” project, funded by the Global Partnership for Education. The main objective of the workshops was to enhance the students’ capacity to promote accountability and improve the quality of education.
Over the years, educational institutions in the country have been affected by various challenges, including ethical issues, inadequate infrastructure, poor delivery of services, insufficient resources, and corruption in the supply chain. These issues greatly impede the progress of the education system and hinder the students’ ability to receive quality education.
The workshops aimed to address these challenges by equipping the students with the necessary skills and knowledge to advocate for accountability and bring about positive changes in their respective educational institutions. The training included a wide range of topics, such as monitoring processes, data collection utilizing the EduCheck techtool, and advocacy with school authorities.
During the workshops, students actively engaged in discussions, brainstorming sessions, and practical exercises. They learned about effective strategies to monitor and evaluate the quality of education, ensuring that schools adhere to ethical standards and provide adequate resources for teaching and learning. Furthermore, they were introduced to the EduCheck techtool, a powerful tool that enables them to collect and analyze data related to various aspects of education, helping them identify areas that require improvement.
In addition to the technical skills acquired, the workshops also emphasized the importance of advocacy and collaboration. Students were encouraged to voice their concerns, engage with school authorities, and work together to bring about positive change. By empowering the students to be proactive agents of change, the workshops aimed to create a culture of accountability and ensure that education is prioritized and receives the necessary attention it deserves.
Overall, the workshops held in South Kivu and Kinshasa between 2 and 15 November 2022 played a crucial role in strengthening the students’ capacity to hold educational institutions accountable and improve the quality of education in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through their newfound knowledge and skills, these students have become catalysts for positive change, paving the way for a brighter future for education in the country.
Starting in January 2023, trained students will use “EduCheck” to monitor elements such as water and sanitation in the school, the attendance and behavior of teachers and students, and the lack of basic equipment such as desks, books, and teaching materials.
Students participate in building schools that are responsive to their needs.
Million’s children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo schools learn in infrastructures that did not meet minimum norms and standards. Secondary schools in Uvira are struggling to provide adequate educational facilities for children. This means that children are forced to study in buildings built in the 1990s that lack everything: proper toilets, running water, libraries, and adequate teaching materials. It’s is a fundamental problem, as the quality of school facilities is linked to the academic performance of students and teachers.
Students-led monitoring and advocacy as a creative way to change the status quo
A lack of effective students’ engagement often mismatches what the education service is trying to achieve and students’ needs. The students-led monitoring initiative in South Kivu is helping to improve the delivery of education services and strengthen accountability between students, communities, and education sector decision-makers.
To ensure the school meets minimum education standards, CERC established 35 Integrity Clubs in Uvira, trained 525 monitors, and equipped them with technology and tools to monitor education services in their schools. CERC’s training in Community Integrity Building enables monitors to analyse school performance, take photos of the services, conduct beneficiary surveys, verify findings, and engage with stakeholders such as the headteacher and parents committee to fix problems.
In June 2018, two months after they were trained and started follow-up activities using the training and tools they received, monitors from these 35 partner schools discovered several severe problems with the school’s facilities. A frequent problem found in all schools was the lack of adequate toilet facilities that could not meet the demand and were not cleaned regularly. The monitoring results also showed that 19 schools lacked running water. This means that students did not wash their hands after using the restroom and missed drinking water at school.
These monitors raised problems and recommendations with their school officials from that time onwards. Through this constructive engagement, these students have influenced the change in their schools, ensuring that additional classrooms are built, poor facilities rehabilitated, toilets built, desks repaired and leaking tiles replaced.
By 2020, 13 secondary schools monitored are now using water in the toilets, spraying them with the danger of hand-dirty disease. In addition to this, the three schools have new toilets and classrooms thanks to the commitment of the young community monitors.
We unite school-aged children to fix our failing education system.
For the past three years, CERC helped 54 secondary schools to embed anti-corruption and transparency protocols in the education system in South Kivu.
Since 2017, CERC has established Integrity Clubs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Students aged 14-19 learn about Integrity and monitor projects and services in their community, including their schools. The student monitors use our technology tool DevelopmentCheck to report problems and fixes.
Integrity Clubs allowed students, parents, and the public to get information on critical parameters of the schools (water and library availability, class size, toilet suitability, number of students in a class, qualification of teaching staff), the school budgets and spending. In this way, Integrity Clubs supported the government’s education reform program by making schools more accountable and inclusive.
Integrity Clubs- how they work
Integrity Education
Integrity is taught in schools by teachers trained by CERC, ensuring that students understand how corruption functions and how acting with Integrity can overcome corruption challenges.
Meetings, Forums and Networks
Regular Integrity Club (IC) meetings enable students to expand on their experience of corruption and participate in activities designed to recognize corruption as a global problem. Forums and networks between ICs and partners encourage group collaboration.
Training in monitoring
Once students are educated in Integrity, they can identify when corruption challenges delivering projects and services in their communities. Monitoring requires training in accessing information, engaging with stakeholders, and using our tech tool DevelopmentCheck to fix problems.
Highlights:
Between 2017 and 2020 we trained 810 students in 54 Integrity Clubs across South-Kivu
Students used DevelopmentCheck to monitor 54 infrastructure projects and services for their communities, achieving an average Fix-Rate of 32% of instances where corruption had caused problems in their delivery.
The youth demonstrated to themselves and to others that the power to make a positive difference in their lives and their communities that they have the agency to make a difference.
Students (ages 14-18) have proven themselves to be extremely positive agents of change, exhibiting a motivation to improve the services and projects that are delivered to their communities.
Teaching youth the benefits of acting with integrity and the skills to practice and demand it in real-life situations gives them the confidence to always choose integrity over corruption throughout their lifetimes.
Youth are empowered to continue to participate in civil society throughout their lifetimes.
Project and service providers expect to be monitored by students, incentivizing them to act with integrity and improving the quality of goods they deliver.
Even in contexts where the status of girls is low, over 40% of monitors we have trained are female.
Quotes
“With Integrity Clubs established in 54 secondary schools in South-Kivu under this initiative, combined with the use by more than eight hundred students of the tech tool “DevelopmentCheck”, to monitor the transparency, participation and efficiency of education services; now, parents and students have better ability to hold schools accountable for the quality of education services provided,” said Heri Bitamala, Executive Director.
“It is crucial to introduce this Student-led Monitoring approach in implementing the DRC Education and Training Sector Strategy 2016-2025, which introduced a free primary and secondary education system. As direct beneficiaries of the quality and inclusive education services this strategy promises, students have the right to hold the government and providers accountable through this successful social accountability mechanism,” he added.
“The DevCheck app provides key information on operation, budgets and performance of schools for students, parents, teachers and the whole community, which can be used in policy debates, budgeting and setting development priorities at the school level,” said Ngoya Bundu Harmonie, CERC Project Coordinator. Kahindo Ndjungu confirmed this, ITIP Principal in Uvira, who said, “Thanks to Local Education Clusters meetings organized in our high school, the entire process became clearer and more transparent.”
Integrity Club convinced school officials to build extra toilets and classrooms
Access to education is a major challenge for children living in South Kivu. Children living in rural areas study in poor conditions. Schools are overcrowded and often lack equipment, water and sanitation facilities, and adequate teaching and learning materials.
CERC is an independent organization that works with young people to build integrity and good governance in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. With the help of young community monitors, CERC ensures that the funds allocated for community projects are properly distributed so that the projects benefit the intended beneficiaries.
In October 2017, CERC launched an initiative to improve education in South Kivu by engaging young people through Integrity club. CERC established 54 Integrity Clubs in the South-Kivu and trained 810 students were trained as community monitors to ensure quality education accessible to all children. CERC’s training on Community Integrity Building (CIB) enables monitors to assess quality and availability of equipment and infrastructure, the performance of the teaching team, collect evidence, conduct beneficiary surveys, verify findings as well as engage with stakeholders such as headteacher, parent committee, and teachers association to fix problems.
To ensure that the school deliver better education and improve its infrastructure, 15 monitors from Institut Itara trained by CERC have been monitoring their school since February 2018. In April 2018, community monitors discovered that the school’s infrastructure was dirty and dangerous. They also discovered that school facilities could not cope with the demand. This meant that the school had only three washrooms for 590 students and that some classrooms were overcrowded. The school’s ability to ensure better access to education has been seriously compromised, putting students at risk.
“Subsequently, these monitors decided to bring these issues to the school’s management so that immediate solutions could be implemented.“
In April 2018, after issues were reported, the school management has immediately undertaken to repair the broken desks and launch the construction of a block of three classrooms with available funds.
Requiring more resources for the construction of additional toilets for students, especially separate toilets for girls, an Education Cluster meeting was convened in august 2018 and included community monitors, the parent committee, the school principal to discuss resources to be mobilized for the construction of extra toilets for students. During the meeting, resources were identified, and the construction works were planned to start in October 2018 and to be completed in March 2019.
In September 2018, the new 3 classrooms were completed and the construction of a block of eight latrines started in October 2018 and was completed as planned.
