In the aftermath of the fall of Goma and Bukavu, Ground Truth Solutions and Victim’s Hope DRC listened to over 880 people in Mweso and Minova: returnees, displaced people, and host families. Their testimonies reveal communities navigating insecurity, hunger, and fragile coexistence largely on their own. The report presents their perceptions.
People’s priorities are clear: safety, food, and water. Many return home only to find their land occupied and livelihoods destroyed. Despite this, social cohesion holds better than expected—two-thirds say different groups live together well, though tensions around land and housing persist. Mutual aid remains the backbone of survival, with four in five helping others despite scarce resources.
Aid, where it reaches, is valued: most say it meets key needs and can even strengthen trust when delivered fairly. But communities warn that exclusion, corruption, and lack of participation in aid decisions erode this trust—especially for displaced people, who feel sidelined from both community and aid structures.
Resource collections
- Accountability to affected populations (AAP)
- ALNAP focus topics
- Evaluating humanitarian action
- IASC Accountability and Inclusion collection
- IASC Collection - Community insights and feedback
- Locally led humanitarian action
- Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
- Monitoring of humanitarian action
- Use of evaluation evidence