Assessing the Effectiveness of Multistakeholder Platforms: Agricultural and Rural Management Councils in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

In 2008, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) established multistakeholder platforms in the agricultural sector known as agricultural and rural management councils (CARGs). The aim of CARGs is achieving a decentralized governance of the agricultural policies and strategies through a large participation of stakeholders of the sector in the design and implementation of agricultural policy processes. Multistakeholder platforms are institutional arrangements intended and used for learning, policy dialogue, and priority setting, but they are rarely evaluated. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of local-level (territory) multistakeholder platforms using data from 55 CARGs in 23 randomly selected territories in three provinces (Bandundu, Bas-Congo, and Kinshasa) of the DRC. The first CARG was established in 2008, and the survey was conducted three years later, from August to October 2011.

The results indicate that the effectiveness of the CARGs has been rather limited. Fifty-one percent of the surveyed CARGs achieved results consistent with at least one of the main goals of their processes. However, 45 percent have not yet achieved any tangible output, whether consistent or not with their main goals, while 4 percent achieved output outside their objectives. The results also show that the capacity to generate and sustain support for CARGs and their multistakeholder process is an important determinant of their effectiveness. Strategies aimed at improving CARG capacity are likely to improve their effectiveness.

Keywords: Agricultural policies, multistakeholder governance, Participation, Participatory development, Africa, Africa south of Sahara, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Southern Africa