Using Cash for Shelter: Displaced and Recent Returnee Households Invite Recovery in Eastern DRC (DRIVE) Internal Conflict and Displacement
The Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, has endured multiple conflicts since 1996, including armed conflict in Eastern DRC in 2012 and 2013. In December 2014, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the DRC reported that the armed conflict had internally displaced 2.72 million people. For the next few years, over 58 percent of internally displaced people (IDPs) were in North Kivu province and 14 percent in Katanga province; the majority lived with host families. Displacement was frequent, unpredictable and difficult to track, and it also affected host communities whose limited resources became further stretched.
Catholic Relief Services conducted three needs assessments between September 2013 and January 2014, identifying food and nonfood items (NFIs) as the greatest needs. More than 80 percent of the population had poor food consumption scores on the World Food Program’s (WFP) food security index, and displaced and recent-returnee households lacked sufficient access to essential household items such as cookware, blankets and water storage. Most households preferred cash and in-kind assistance to meet those needs.
Based on identified needs and the local market context—as well as feasibility, protection and security, and beneficiary preferences—CRS chose a cash-based response.
This study forms part of a series of case studies undertaken by Catholic Relief Services. To download other studies in the series, please click below.
Flood Emergency Response in Serbia
Using Cash for Shelter: Windows of Slovyansk
Winter Resilience for IDPs in Eastern Ukraine
Rent Assistance for Syrian Refugees
Malawi Floods and Rains Recovery Program
