Feature storyEducation authorities adopt Integrity Clubs for all their schools in South Kivu2018–2023Impact stories2024By CERC
An alert system for citizens to report corruption within the justice system
In 2024, with RCN Justice & Démocratie and funding from the European Union and Belgium, CERC set up a social alert system against corruption in Kinshasa’s courts and helped students from four universities create integrity clubs.
A partnership for an accountable justice system
On 1 April 2024, CERC and RCN Justice & Démocratie (RCN J&D) signed a partnership agreement to implement the anti-corruption component of the second phase of the Justice Reform Support Programme (PARJ2), funded by the European Union, and of the project Acting for an accountable, plural and honest justice in the Congo (REPLIC), co-funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation (DGD). An amendment of 12 August 2024 added support to university anti-corruption clubs and journalism. The work contributes to the National Justice Reform Policy 2017–2026.
Nine focal points to collect alerts
With RCN J&D’s technical support, CERC wrote a guide to the social alert system, a memorandum of understanding with the focal points and an implementation strategy. The system was run by a network of 9 focal points appointed by civil society organisations and anti-corruption networks – ACVDP, PONJA PONJA, C4, GREM, COCOLUCO, AFEVOPHA and CERC – who collect corruption complaints from their communities and pass them on. On 6 May 2024, they received phones and SIM cards, with transport and communication allowances.
The courts on board
In June and July 2024, CERC presented the system to the prosecutors and heads of division of the public prosecutor’s offices of Kalamu, Ndjili and Matete. Mission orders gave 7 focal points access to the courts, and several judicial authorities authorised the display of the system’s toll-free number. To find allies within the justice system, CERC also surveyed litigants and traders near the courts to identify magistrates known for their integrity.
Getting the word out
From May 2024, awareness raising reached about 45 people in Kisenso, Ndjili and the CPA neighbourhood, and about 60 litigants and small traders near the courts of Ndjili and Kalamu. In June, 70 posters with the toll-free number went up in the prosecutors’ offices, high courts and peace courts of Kalamu, Ndjili and Matete, and at the Ndjili notary office; 250 leaflets were printed in July. The message was simple: “Together, let us say no to corruption, by reporting corrupt acts and practices in the justice sector.”
Alerts, and a response
CERC received its first 3 alerts in May 2024; by the end of June it had received and documented 7. Three could not be followed up because the victims or witnesses withdrew for fear of reprisals – a reminder of why protection for those who report matters. CERC responded through advocacy with judicial authorities, notably with ACVDP in Kalamu and Ndjili, and by advising and assisting litigants. On 26 July 2024, it supported ACVDP in following a case before the Kalamu high court about a piece of evidence that had disappeared.
The documented cases, in which no one is named, show what citizens face: an arbitrary arrest in Lemba whose investigation stalled, a suspect released for 100,000 Congolese francs, a land dispute dropped by a prosecutor’s office, a complainant who was not heard, and a child custody case in which a mother accused her former husband of paying a magistrate.
Integrity clubs in four universities
From September to December 2024, CERC ran the Youth Anti-Corruption Project Incubator. It supported the creation of integrity clubs at the University of Kinshasa, the Pan-African University, Reverend Kim University and Bel Campus University, each with up to 15 students – as many women as men, 30% of them marginalised or under-represented. The students studied the UN and African Union conventions against corruption, the SADC Protocol and national law, and found what is missing in the DRC: a special anti-corruption law, a law on access to information and a law protecting whistleblowers.
On 3 December 2024, 61 students (18 women and 43 men) from the four clubs met at the Pan-African University. With an expert, they diagnosed corrupt practices at university – money paid to pass, sexual corruption in exchange for grades, forced sale of books, exams taken by someone else, falsified grades – and drew up a joint action plan, including advocacy with the National Assembly for a whistleblower protection law.
Reaching a wider audience
With the online media Habari RDC, CERC published articles on the activities, with a focus on the sexual corruption identified by the students. In December 2024, CERC and the Congolese Association for Access to Justice (ACAJ) also trained civil society members and a Habari RDC blogger to prevent, detect and fight corruption.
Every dollar accounted for
In 2024, CERC received US$19,295 from RCN J&D and spent it on the lines of the agreement: US$14,295 for the social alert system and the civil society response, and US$4,825 for the youth incubator, with monthly narrative and financial reports and the original supporting documents. These figures have not been audited.
About CERC
The Centre de Recherche sur l’Anti-Corruption (CERC) is a Congolese non-governmental organisation founded in April 2017 in South Kivu. With young people at its heart, CERC works with schools, communities, public institutions and partners to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has held special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2021. Learn more: Who we are.
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