This report is an evaluation of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) 2012-13 advocacy and protection initiative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The aim of the evaluation was to assess outcome level results and feed into developing strategy, tactics and monitoring mechanisms for future activities. Methods used included an onsite visit to the DRC (Goma and Kinshasa) and semi-structured interviews and group discussions with 59 persons (16 NRC staff and 43 external).
Background: NRC initiated a project in early 2012 to look at humanitarian access and non-military approaches to protection. A key foundation for this initiative was the commissioning of a research study on non-military protection strategies in DRC by an external protection specialist, Liam Mahony of Fieldview Solutions, which resulted in both an internal and external report. These reports were the basis for a range of advocacy activities launched by NRC in 2013, including presentations and briefings in DRC and concerned capitals with operational staff and policy-makers of governments, non-government organisations (NGOs), international organisations and United Nations (UN) agencies.