Our Work

Data Collection Pilot Study (December 2022)

The LLP team on the ground in the DRC made a trip to Uvira to conduct a pilot experiment for data collection. Mr. Remy Nsengiyumva collected data using the Kobo Collect. The Kobo Collect is a data collection tool that was developed by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The tool has a virtual data collection tool, allows for data to be stored securely, and analyzes it. The data collection was successful and is ready to be used for the upcoming quantitative and qualitative data collections in 2023. 

March Peace Talks (March 2022)

From March 10-12, 2022, a gathering of around 120 individuals took place in Uvira to finalize the solutions that had been in discussion since the November meeting.

The goals of the March dialogue were three-fold:

1. Deliberate and conclude upon a final peace strategy encompassing three districts of South Kivu including Uvira, Mwenga, and Fizi;
2. Promote sustaining dialogue between armed groups, government, and community leaders and members in search of sustainable solutions to inter-community conflict and consistent communication paths between conflicting parties; and
3. Produce a model for the growth and reproduction of peacebuilding efforts in South Kivu that would include community prosperity and inter-community cooperation.

The immediate response of the armed groups was to abide by the conclusions of the accords. When the government was approached by the groups to uphold their end of the agreements (specifically, to provide intermediate spaces that the group members could occupy to prepare for reintegration into their home villages), the government balked, citing a lack of funding. In response to this eventuality, the LLP team devised a response to take advantage of the groups’ willingness to demobilize, dubbed the “community reintegration phase.” This phase now defines our work in South Kivu, as hundreds of armed group members are now demobilizing, and inter-community peace is now the rule rather than the exception.

One of the main questions we have asked as a team was, “were the dialogues worth it?” We asked this question of the local actors while in the DRC in October 2022, and the answer was an unequivocal “yes.” Specifically, local actors shared that these dialogues:

1. Oriented the peace processes toward the communities as the main actors and leaders.
2. Ensured that armed actors were given a chance to speak and that their strategies for peace were heard.
3. Established as crucial the role of women in the peace process.
4. Established AJDC as a legitimate organization in the view of the government, communities, and armed groups and thrust them to the front of the effort in peacemaking in the region.
5. Established the Carter School as a trustworthy and legitimate international partner.
6. De-emphasized the role of money in the peace process and set a precedent of frugality that persists until now.

Women’s Peace Gathering (January 2022)

In January 2022, the LLP hosted a gathering of women community leaders to discuss the outcomes of the preliminary talks in November, specifically inquiring from them about how the possible solutions suggested could be comprehensively but realistically integrated into home and community life. The outcomes were crucial to the planning of the subsequent gathering between armed groups and government leaders as they illuminated the nuances and social ramifications of demobilization and reintegration. These women also helped us understand what a sustainable peace model could look like that would also contribute to the long-term success of their communities, decreasing future recruitment and recidivism. Finally, this process illuminated the post-peace need for communities to be able to defend themselves until the FARDC and police could do it for them.

Armed group follow-up field site visits (January – June 2022)

During the months of January through June 2022, the LLP via AJDC conducted a comprehensive inquiry on prospects for peace in South Kivu, engaging various actors in the area, including follow-up meetings with the armed groups that attended the November preliminary talks to discuss prospects for a permanent peace agreement which included their group interests. These meetings took place in their local territory as field teams traveled, sometimes very long distances, to reach each group in their held space.

November Peace Talks (November 2021)

The first of three organized peace dialogues commenced on November 25-28, 2021, with the gathering of over 80 individuals in Uvira, South Kivu, DRC to discuss sustainable peace solutions among armed groups and various communities across three of the province’s most conflict-affected districts including Uvira, Mwenga, and Fizi. The goals of this talk were three-fold:

1. Develop new methods in international/local coordination in peacemaking;
2. Promote community dialogue between armed groups and community leaders in South Kivu,
   DRC, in search of a sustainable solution to the inter-community conflict; and
3. Produce a model for the growth and reproduction of peacemaking efforts in South Kivu and
   beyond.

At the conclusion of the dialogues, a comprehensive peace agreement was signed by the participants, which demonstrated an overview of the participants’ recommended paths to peace. These included actions to be taken by the government, communities, armed groups, and outsiders (NGOs). This meeting was a “lower level” gathering that included more minor players from the government and armed groups. It acted as a pilot program that oriented subsequent actions. In hindsight, it was apparent that the government was “testing” our abilities and those of our partners to see if the process would be found legitimate. This gathering also positioned us as a serious stakeholder in peacemaking. It opened the doors for our partners to dialogue with the individual armed groups to hear them in their own context after the meeting and to further refine our strategy around their responses.