Bukavu, 16 February 2018 – Yesterday, Thursday 15 February, CERC held a working session at the provincial Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of South Kivu on corruption, inequality and exclusion in the Congolese education sector. The meeting took place under Students Acting for Honesty, Integrity and Equality (SHINE), a project implemented by CERC with Integrity Action and funded by NORAD and Sida.
CERC was represented by Albert Msambya Labani, its Executive Assistant in charge of administration, advocacy and policy engagement. The provincial minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Isaac Buchekabiri, received the delegation. The stakes are high: in CERC's May 2017 survey of 980 households in South Kivu, 48.5% of respondents considered the provincial ministry of education corrupt.
CERC came with something concrete to show. On 8 December 2017, SHINE launched Integrity Clubs in 20 secondary schools of Uvira territory. Between December 2017 and January 2018, two trainings of trainers prepared 20 principals, 40 teachers and 60 club leaders to run them.
The delegation explained how the clubs work. Students trained in anti-corruption, citizenship, transparency, inclusion and leadership monitor their school's services – class sizes, toilets, water, teachers' attendance, budgets – with Integrity Action's DevelopmentCheck tool, then look for solutions with school managers, parents and providers in joint working group meetings. For that to work, the problems students report must reach someone who can act – which is why CERC is seeking the support of the provincial authorities.
The project's first-year plans depend on that dialogue. In the coming months, 300 young monitors aged 15 to 19 are to follow the services and infrastructure of the 20 schools, and the clubs aim to reach 2,000 young people. SHINE also aims to encourage and support secondary schools to take on Integrity Clubs and make them last.
For CERC, working with the institutions is part of its mission. Heri Bitamala, CERC's founder, wrote in October 2017 that he created the organisation out of “a lifelong passion to see DRC institutions more accountable, inclusive, free from corruption and responsive to expectations and aspirations of Congolese citizens.”
The next step belongs to the students. As the first monitors start visiting their schools with DevelopmentCheck, CERC will keep the provincial ministry informed of what they find – and of what gets fixed.
Make a donation to help CERC train more teachers and club leaders, or become a supporter to bring Integrity Clubs to more schools in the DRC.
Read also: 120 teachers, principals and club leaders trained in Uvira and Sange