By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman
Thanks to funding from the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), actors from civil society organizations (CSOs) and government departments in the town of Basoko, Bandundu, are now able to monitor the state’s public policies in their commune. Bandundu is the capital of Kwilu province in the south-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The government departments concerned are Decentralization, Environment, Health, Gender, Youth, etc.
The training took place from January 26 to 30, 2024 in Bandundu-ville. It focused on the development, analysis and evaluation of public policies. This activity is part of the PARC Project (Programme d’appui à la participation citoyenne).
Jérémie Bikiele Kashama, project manager and trainer, was delighted with the quality of the participants and firmly believes in the development of the Basoko commune.
“The skills acquired will undoubtedly contribute to quality actions and boost the development of this commune,” he said.
The terms of reference of this activity in our possession reveal that, after the first phase of the project “Strengthening citizen participation of CSOs in the management of the common good for the consolidation of peace in the DRC”, which was devoted to the premises, i.e. the survey on the perception of participatory governance in the ETDs selected, the participatory diagnosis of consultation frameworks, the setting up of consultation frameworks in certain ETDs, support for the drafting and validation of memoranda of understanding or charters for consultation frameworks, and the signing of partnership agreements between CSOs and consultation frameworks.
This training enabled participants to learn about and master the procedures involved in drawing up a public policy; to learn how to analyze and evaluate public policies; and to identify a public policy they want to pursue in their commune.
“The PARC project is implemented using a participatory, multi-stakeholder and empowering approach to governance and management of the common good, which places CCPSCs and multi-stakeholder frameworks as vectors for change”, the terms of reference state.
The same document notes that, with the signing of the agreement, the project is entering its second phase, characterized by material support and capacity-building for the leaders of the consultation frameworks.
Also in Bandundu-ville, the second training session on decentralization, participatory governance and citizen control of public action took place from 06 to 08 November 2023 in the CLAC meeting room, with 25 participants (from Basoko commune departments and civil society civil society members of the Cadre de concertation des OSC.
