KEY RESULTS

• Institutionalizing trade capacity | With EIF support, the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has integrated the EIF National Implementation Unit (NIU) as a department within the Ministry of Foreign Trade and helped establish several trade coordination mechanisms for the trade dialogue between the public and private spheres.
• Trade mainstreaming | The Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) has helped DRC integrate trade into its national development plan and sectoral strategies. 
• Supporting key value chains | The EIF funded a project to support the recovery of the palm oil sector, in line with DRC’s vision of achieving pro-poor growth and sustainable development. 

DRC is a resource-rich country located in Central Africa that boasts an abundance of minerals, 80 million hectares of arable land and a rich biodiversity. A diverse climate, plentiful rainfall and large volumes of surface water evidence the country's agricultural potential.

Despite its natural endowment, DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 73.5% of Congolese people living on less than USD 2.15 a day in 2024. Political and economic challenges, as well as the persistent effects of war and conflict, have posed significant challenges to securing a stable economic and social environment. 

The mining and petroleum sectors are key drivers of DRC's economic growth, accounting for 90% of all exports, while the agricultural sector employs more than 60% of the workforce.

Institutionalizing trade capacity for trade mainstreaming and coordination

As part of a trade-related capacity-building project, which ran between 2011 and 2018 to facilitate the implementation of the EIF programme in the country, an NIU was established and integrated as a department within the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Its goal was to support the development of institutional and human capacity for trade. A key success was its role on mainstreaming trade into the country's National Strategic Development Plan and sectoral strategies, with a specific emphasis on sustainable development, poverty reduction, gender equality and environmental protection. In 2018, the NIU was further strengthened by EIF-supported capacity‑building, enabling it to formulate, develop and evaluate trade policy for the country after the EIF project had ended, thus ensuring the sustainability of trade activities. According to Charles Lusanda Matomina, NIU Coordinator:

With the support of the NIU, the Ministry of Foreign Trade created a formal platform known as the National Trade Policy Committee to facilitate the trade policy dialogue between the organized and informal public sectors, women entrepreneurs and civil society. This mechanism, among others, is designed to enhance public–private coordination and highlights the commitment to, and value of, trade coordination mechanisms. 

Regional economic integration also provides an important strategic tool to help DRC progress its mission to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. The NIU successfully advanced DRC's regional integration via the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa by implementing the DRC country component for the Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project between 2016 and 2021. The USD 26 million project, funded through the World Bank, supported regional peace and stability across the countries bordering the Great Lakes by promoting cross-border trade, improving livelihoods and strengthening economic interdependence in border areas. Facilitating trade not only helps strengthen regional ties but also serves as a key mechanism for reducing poverty – lowering costs for traders, improving access to food and expanding employment opportunities.

Revitalizing the palm oil sector and shedding light on gender inclusion

DRC's main cash crops are palm oil, rubber, tea and coffee. A key result of the acknowledgement of the value of trade is the recognition of the need to diversify exports. This was recommended in the Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (2010) and its subsequent update (2019) that also identified these products as having the potential to generate substantial export earnings. It also showed that more could be done to satisfy DRC's appetite for palm oil as a key ingredient in many products. With this in mind, the EIF supported a project focusing on the recovery of the palm oil sector in the Mayombe region of the province of Kongo Central. Palm oil is found in around 50% of all packaged products – both foodstuffs and other products such as cosmetics – in supermarkets across the world with its versatility and relatively low cost in comparison to other vegetable oils, thus contributing to its popularity. At the same time, palm oil farming practices often raise concerns regarding their environmental sustainability.

The Government designed the project to create jobs, encourage pro-poor growth and increase incomes by strengthening the productive and financial capacities of smallholder farmers and micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in Mayombe. It tackled the sector's persistent problems of low extraction rates and the poor quality of the oil produced by distributing 27 modern mini oil mills, 23 of which went to small producer organizations. Professional training was also provided to stakeholders in the palm oil value chain to build technical and organizational capacity. Of the approximately 3,150 beneficiaries, just over 270 were women. Although this is less than 10%, gender gaps in the DRC labour market shed light on the significance of this figure. Only 6.4% of women work in waged employment in the country. Meanwhile, in the agricultural sector, women farmers produce 18% less than male farmers but have almost 80% lower wage earnings than men. Speaking of the EIF's engagement at large in DRC, according to Matomina:

To promote environmental sustainability in the sector, smallholder farmers were also trained to adopt a zero-deforestation approach to prevent further encroachment on biodiverse forests. A Palm Oil Marketing Information System was established to connect local palm oil producers to private companies, facilitating the distribution of palm oil to the market, and 437,950 palm seedlings were distributed covering 3,062 hectares.

Despite encountering significant obstacles, the project played a major role in revitalizing the sector, as it had a positive impact on the volume of palm oil marketed in the region and generated a threefold increase in palm oil yields from the project's palm oil varieties compared to other local varieties. 

Supporting trade institutions

For trade to realize its full potential, it needs a stable and conducive environment that attracts investment and allows businesses to operate with confidence. Without this stability, the challenges are vast. Underlying issues, such as political instability, have created a unique set of challenges for EIF implementation in the DRC. In the early years up to 2020, the programme responded by focusing on enhancing both national capacity and ownership over trade as a driver of pro-poor growth. Most recently, the EIF support has also transitioned into a project implemented by the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies to further strengthen institutional capacities in international best practices to attract foreign investment and support companies in exporting. By continuing the support and building and integrating a strong NIU within the Government, the key building blocks for trade to remain central to the country's social and economic development plans have been laid.