Civil Society Organizations in Goma DRC focusing on the current elections: What should we advocate for during these campaigns?
Meeting with representatives of Civil Society Organizations in Goma DRC in order to come up with key points which candidates should focus on during these general elections
Some participants after the meeting posing for a group photo
The on November 21st , 2023 took place at our offices and brought together 17 members of different organizations working on various issues among them one network focusing on women, a network focusing on peace and conflict resolution and one network focusing on environment, the others represented different organizations. The meeting was also attended and covered by three journalists from different media groups.
The discussions that took three (3) hours focused on what should be the priorities which the candidates should address during these general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo and who should be the most probable candidates to push for these priorities.
The meeting started with the brief introduction of the participants and their organizations, then the chairperson of the meeting presented to the audience the influence of the Civil Society actors to political candidates especially at this time of elections, the strategic advocacy that civil society organizations can play and the need to inform people on how best they can make their vote more important.
Briefing was also made on the promises of the candidates that have already started the campaigns mainly President Felix Tshisekedi and Moise Katumbi.
The following were maintained as the key priority for the participants.
Security and peace, the economy, social opportunities, infrastructure, investment and entrepreneurship, diplomacy and issues of special rights for specific groups of peace such as: Women, children, Internally Displaced Persons, Refugees, and the diaspora.
Security peace and conflict resolution
The priority is to end once for all the current war in North Kivu in particular and in Eastern DRC in general and for this participants want candidates who will come up with an approach that will end the end completely and forever. The urban insecurity in Goma was also a concern and all other forms of criminality everywhere,
Social opportunities
The meeting focused on education, health, access to services, public places, and other issues,
Economy, attention was put mainly on the current issues around the dollar in DRC, and how best the country to use her currency, issues of production inside and the price of commodities,
Employment for youth and entrepreneurship for young people but also the investment in DRC was highly addressed during the meeting.
Two actions were then proposed
A team was put in place to interact with candidates of some parties in order to understand what they are proposing on these issues and at the same time follow-up what candidates are proposing and share information with others.
Promises already made
Two candidates have so far made promises mainly Moise Katumbi who has promised to end the war in Eastern DRC in six months once elected the president, and Felix Tshisekedi who has promised to extend free education to secondary and the construction of roads, generally he is saying about the continuity of what he is doing so far.
The meeting that started at 1:30 am ended at 1:30 pm, with and call to meet again in one week in order to evaluate the progress.
Thanks
