CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Louis Kalonji, Kinshasa, March 1998
THEME = SOCIAL CONDITION
A round-table conference in Kinshasa,
looks at the growing poverty in Congo RDC's capital
Everywhere in the city, families are getting hungrier and hungrier; unemployment and malnutrition are becoming facts of everyday life; people live in appalling housing conditions; beggars proliferate - all signs of growing poverty.
Because poverty is increasing all the time, women are forced to "make do" and "sort out" things they can sell so as to make ends meet, but even this doesn't bring in enough money for food and paying the childrens' school fees. The situation is destroying homelife and forcing girls into prostitution. With no income and with parental authority crumbling, the "permissive society" is rearing its ugly head.
More people now find they can't escape the poverty trap. In order to survive, they're forced to sell their hard-earned possessions which had pride of place in their homes - refrigerators, radio and television sets, clothes. Tough decisions taken under the pressure of poverty.
The round-table conference, held at the Centre for Social Action (CEPAS) from 22-24 January, was organised through the joint sponsorship of the St. Ignatius University Faculty (Antwerp) and the Kinshasa Catholic University Faculty. The aim was to find out what constitutes poverty in Kinshasa, and its causes. Solutions, then, had to be found. 25 participants attended, including 12 delegates from local non-governmental organisations (NGO)s and 9 representatives from academic circles. The conference's theme was: "How to fight poverty in Kinshasa".
First of all, participants described their own experiences in fighting poverty. They explained what they had done and what had been the impact. They then discussed the possibility of launching an informal urban savings and credit programme in Kinshasa, based on local experience. Finally, they examined ways to co-ordinate action for combatting poverty in Kinshasa.
Last year, an Antwerp university team conducted a survey in two suburban communities in Kinshasa, entitled: "Reaching the poor through the poor". The team submitted their findings to the Round Table conference.
The survey was prepared in two parts: Firstly, they analyzed and summarised interviews conducted with eight poor families. By entering into direct contact with poor families, they were able to understand the meaning, and appreciate the consequences of poverty in the lives of ordinary people. Secondly, they were able to pin- point the impact of poverty in such areas as employment, housing, family relations and the distribution of wealth in society.
On the basis of criteria established by the World Bank, according to which a person earning less than one dollar per day is considered to be poor, the survey shows that 60% of Kinshasa's population is poor. If, however, we assume that everyone spending more than 50% of his/her income on food is poor, then Kinshasa's poor represent 85% of the population. The survey helped to define a typical poor person in Kinshasa as someone being "without means and without energy" - someone who has no strength of his/her own and who has nobody else to rely on.
Basing themselves on the survey's results, delegates endeavoured to determine the main causes of poverty - political, social, economic, cultural and religious. One thing is clear - the fact that so many people are leaving the rural areas and coming into the towns and cities, has a tremendous impact on the urban situation and is a root cause of poverty. Kinshasa's population is undergoing an enormous increase; people talk about the capital's whole infrastructure being on the verge of "exploding". In 1960, Kinshasa had 400,000 inhabitants; there's almost 6 million today.
Other major reasons for poverty include: social injustices, unequal distribution of the nation's wealth, flawed salary policies. There's also a number of cultural elements which cannot be ignored, such as maltreating and dispossessing widows after their husbands have died, and a very formal and bookish education system. The Congolese education system can best be described as "sick" and ill-adapted to the current situation. In no way do our schools prepare their pupils for life!
Conference then suggested a number of strategies for combatting poverty. These include: creating suitable work situations with adequate salary structures; helping the poor to help themselves; setting up consumer organisations; encouraging new leaders to come forward because our country's present leaders are easily bribed and are unprincipled; encouraging citizens in the habit of saving; establishing and setting-up small credit union- type savings and loan programmes for people of modest means.
Delegates insisted that children and young people must receive the kind of education which will enable them to really serve their country later on.
One of the most effective ways of fighting poverty is to establish small savings-loan facilities so that people have access to money for improving their standard of living. The failure of the country's financial institutions was thoroughly examined and was found to be due mainly to those in charge being dishonest and self- centred. The meeting proposed a re-organisation of the financial market, at the same time taking local experience into account. Priority should be given to extending credit (reimbursable) to groups.
Several local bodies are already taking effective action in fighting poverty in Kinshasa. Parallel to the Round Table decisions, about 100 peoples' organisations affiliated to Congo's Federation of Civil NGOs Dedicated to Economic Matters (FOLECO) and Congo's National Union of Women (UNAF), recently decided on a series of challenging strategies. They first of all listed the various obstacles to financing, selling and storing goods. These organisations decided to give priority to activities connected with setting-up a central purchasing scheme, granting credit and encouraging a habit of saving.
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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement