Education
How do informal fees, teacher absenteeism and weak school governance keep children out of quality education?
Integrity survey of 2,250 students (2022)What We Are Learning
Evidence is where our work starts. We measure corruption, investigate its causes sector by sector and evaluate what our projects change – and every finding shapes the design of our projects, our advocacy and our strategy.
Our research in numbers
7 studies published
Studies, surveys and evaluations published by CERC since 2017.
980 households interviewed
The first household survey on corruption in the DRC, in 9 territories of South Kivu (2017).
2,250 students surveyed
An integrity survey of students in 150 secondary schools of South Kivu and Kinshasa (2022).
73 officials and experts consulted
Education officials and anti-corruption experts consulted on corruption in education (2021).
Our research agenda
Six questions we study
Our research follows the problems that young people and communities meet every day, sector by sector.
Public services
How do citizens experience corruption in public services, and why do so few report it?
Household survey, South Kivu (2017)Justice and the rule of law
How can citizens report corruption in the courts safely, and be heard?
REPLIC project report (2024)Infrastructure and reconstruction
How can communities detect and prevent corruption in public works and in the reconstruction of eastern Congo?
Building infrastructure with integrity (2024)Political finance and the UNCAC
Is the DRC implementing the UN Convention against Corruption – and who controls the money of political parties?
Parallel report on the UNCAC (2021)Youth, gender and inclusion
What makes young people – girls, students at risk of exclusion, young people with a disability – act against corruption, and what holds them back?
Learning report (2021)From evidence to action
How our research and evaluations shape our projects and our strategy
Every CERC project starts from evidence and ends with lessons: we study a problem before we act, test our model while we act, and evaluate what changed – and each step feeds the design of the next project and our strategy.
Study
We measure corruption and investigate its causes before we act.
Design
Findings and consultations shape each project with the people it serves.
Evaluate
We assess our projects against the OECD-DAC criteria and listen to students.
Adapt
Lessons and recommendations change how we work and inform our strategy.
Examples
- 2017
Household Corruption Perception Survey – South Kivu
Showed that 56.9% of citizens see corruption as serious but only 20.9% know where to report it: the baseline for our work on integrity education and citizen monitoring in South Kivu.
Read the survey - 2021
Education consultations and Year Zero study
534 students, 89 teachers and principals and education officials consulted: their findings shaped the design of Students Acting for Accountability and Quality of Education (2022–2024).
Read the project report - 2022
Integrity survey of 2,250 secondary-school students
Gave the baseline for the Integrity Clubs and shaped our advocacy with education authorities.
Annual report 2022 - 2021
Learning report: understanding students’ behaviour
Fear, cost and distant support hold young monitors back: its recommendations – closer support, training, safety and family engagement – were to be tested in the Education Out Loud programme.
Read the learning report
Featured study · 2017
Household Corruption Perception Survey – South Kivu
The first household survey on corruption in the DRC. In May 2017, CERC’s enumerators interviewed 980 people aged 17 to 60 – as many women as men, one per household – in Bukavu, Uvira, Kalehe, Shabunda, Idjwi, Kabare, Walungu, Fizi and Mwenga, with a 68-question questionnaire based on the United Nations model for corruption surveys and reviewed with Integrity Action.
Corruption is seen as serious, yet rarely named as the first problem – after unemployment (22.6%) and poverty (15.8%) – and few citizens know how to act on it. This is why CERC invests in public information, reporting channels and citizen monitoring.
Studies and surveys
Our publications
- 2024
Illicit political financing in the DRC
Building on its UNCAC report, CERC analysed the financing of political parties. Despite the legal framework (Law 004/02 of 15 March 2004 and Law 08/005 of 10 June 2008), there is no authority to supervise and enforce political financing rules, parties do not publish annual financial statements, and breaches go unsanctioned.
Key finding: Recommends an independent supervisory authority, deterrent sanctions and regular public financial reports by political parties.
Annual Report 2023–2024 - 2024
Building infrastructure with integrity
Corruption in infrastructure financed by international aid and public resources leads to cost overruns, poor-quality work and delays. CERC’s model combines technology – the GovCheck application – with citizen advocacy.
Key finding: Communities can detect and prevent corruption in public works and hold officials and contractors to account.
Annual Report 2023–2024 - 2022
Integrity survey of secondary-school students
A knowledge, attitudes and practices survey of 2,250 students in 150 secondary schools in South Kivu and Kinshasa, as part of the Students Acting for Accountability and Quality Education project.
Key finding: Gave the baseline for the Integrity Clubs and shaped CERC’s advocacy with education authorities.
Annual Report 2022 - 2021
Understanding and influencing students’ behaviour
A learning report on CERC’s Integrity Clubs in South Kivu and Kinshasa: 534 young people and 89 teachers and head teachers, assessed against the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria used by the World Bank and the European Union.
Key finding: Young people want to be agents of change; fear, cost and too little support hold them back.
Read the learning report - 2021
Civil society parallel report on the UNCAC in the DRC
Commissioned by the UNCAC Coalition for the second review cycle: CERC met state and non-state actors from 11 June to 1 December 2021 to assess how the DRC implements Chapter II (preventive measures) and Chapter V (asset recovery) of the Convention, in law and in practice.
Key finding: Documents the DRC’s efforts and good practices, and the gaps in preventive measures and asset recovery.
Read the report (UNCAC Coalition) - 2021
Corruption and accountability in the education sector
In-depth assessments with 54 senior education officials and 19 anti-corruption practitioners from civil society, teachers’ unions and religious associations: 4 consultative workshops, an integrity knowledge, attitudes and practices survey in 41 secondary schools of South Kivu and Kinshasa, and a review of existing studies.
Key finding: The findings and recommendations were used to influence education policy and shaped the Students Acting project.
Annual Report 2020–2021 - 2017
Household Corruption Perception Survey – South Kivu
980 interviews in 9 territories – the first household survey on corruption in the DRC, and the baseline for future surveys.
Key finding: 56.9% see corruption as serious, but only 20.9% know where to report it.
Read the survey
Learning report · 2021
Understanding and Influencing Students’ Behaviour
534 students and 89 teachers and head teachers in South Kivu and Kinshasa told us what makes young people monitor the services of their communities – and what stops them.
What we learned
Six lessons from our Integrity Clubs
Motivation is not what is missing
Students want to be agents of change. What stops them is fear, cost and a lack of support.
Small barriers weigh heavily
No food after school, no transport, no rain gear and no letter of authorisation are enough to keep monitors at home.
Support must be close
Support run from far away, visits that stop and allowances not paid cost us the trust of monitors.
Teachers make the club
Where focal teachers and head teachers are active, clubs thrive; families who are informed support their children.
Safety and gender come first
Girls fear sexual harassment, boys arrest: protection must be part of the model from the start.
What is not tracked is lost
Without success stories and without following former monitors, neither motivation nor impact can last.
Our method
How we assess our projects
We assess our projects against the six OECD-DAC evaluation criteria, used by the World Bank, the European Union and most development partners, and we study behaviour with our 4E approach: Enable, Encourage, Engage, Exemplify.
Relevance
Does the project do the right things – does it answer the needs and priorities of the people it serves?
Coherence
Does it work with the other actors and programmes in the same place?
Effectiveness
Is it achieving its objectives, and for whom?
Efficiency
Are resources used well – are results delivered on time and at a reasonable cost?
Impact
What difference does it make, intended or not?
Sustainability
Will the benefits last when the project ends?
Project reports
Learning from every project
Our project reports set out what each project achieved, what it cost and what it taught us.
REPLIC Project Report
Students Acting for Accountability and Quality of Education
Youth Excel Project Report
Students Acting for Honesty, Integrity and Equality (SHINE)
SHINE Project Evaluation – Year One
How we work
Our research standards
Independent
The 2017 household survey was designed, funded and carried out by CERC itself; our studies are published in full with their methods.
Rigorous
Questionnaires based on international models – the United Nations model for corruption surveys, knowledge-attitudes-practices surveys – and checked samples: 30 of the 980 household interviews were set aside after review.
Inclusive
As many women as men, one respondent per household, urban and rural territories, and students, teachers, officials and civil society heard in the same study.
Useful
Findings are shared with officials, parliamentarians, civil society and the media, and used to design our projects and our advocacy.
Sustainable Development Goal 16 – Peace, justice and strong institutions
Work with our research team
Governments, donors, universities and civil society organisations can commission a survey or a sector study from CERC, or use our data in their own work.