Community Driven Development (CDD) is a bottom-up model of development that aims to put the people in the driver’s seat. This report presents findings from a long-term impact evaluation of the Tuungane 1 program, a major CDD program in Eastern Congo, funded by the UK government and implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and CARE International between 2007 and 2011. The evaluation focuses on three sets of key outcomes of interest to the program: 1) the quality of service provision in the health and education sectors; 2) health, education and economic welfare outcomes; and 3) women’s empowerment.

Community Driven Development (CDD) is a bottom-up model of development that aims to put the people in the driver’s seat. This report presents findings from an evaluation of the Tuungane 2 program, a major CDD program in Eastern Congo, funded by the UK government and implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) between 2011 and 2014. The Tuungane 2 (T2) program was carried out in 1,025 Village Development Committee areas (VDCs) in the provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu, Maniema and Katanga, representing an estimated beneficiary population of around 1.7 million individuals.

This study investigates to what extent Tuungane 2 activities are associated with improvements across five families of outcomes: 1) constructive engagement between service users and duty bearers; 2) improvements in service provisions in the health and education sector, 3) improvements in health and education; 4) improvements in governance related outcomes such as participation, accountability, efficiency, transparency and capture; and lastly 5) improvements in women’s empowerment.

In conflicts around the world, the targeting of civilians and their homes, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure has become routine. People are cut off from food, water and lifesaving assistance. The IRC advocates with global leaders for actions that uphold the laws of war, protect civilians in conflict, hold violators to account and allow humanitarian organizations to have greater access to people in need.