Setting the scene: crisis, displacement, and participation
In the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), conflicts and displacement continue to deeply affect communities. People face ongoing insecurity, fear of armed violence, limited access to services, disrupted support systems, and a generalized lack of access to safe and reliable information. In such a complex environment, the ability to share insights and experiences is crucial both to building community resilience via awareness and agency, and to ensure the humanitarian aid system is suitable and informed of populations’ priorities, obstacles, and the risks they face.
This outlines the core purpose of the new collaboration between Upinion and Mercy Corps in the DRC.The joint project and the partnership as a whole is rooted in a shared belief: that people affected by crises should not just receive aid, they should shape it. Together, we are working to contribute to communities having better access to the information they need, in ways that are accessible and relevant, while also creating space for them to speak up, ask questions, and share their perspectives.
Project scope and local realities: A deeper look at Ituri and Nord-Kivu
As part of the broader Mercy Corps RESET program, this project is being implemented in two provinces in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo: Beni in North-Kivu and Irumu in Ituri, both of which have been under a state of siege since 2021. These areas are heavily affected by armed conflict, massive population displacement and the collapse of basic services.
In Irumu, communities are experiencing the daily effects of inter-community violence, land disputes and poor governance of natural resources. The presence of armed groups accentuates the instability while access to drinking water, food, healthcare and education remains very limited. The presence of children on mining sites and the ineffectiveness of the security forces increase the population’s vulnerability. In Beni, the situation remains just as critical. Attacks by armed groups have led to massive population displacements. Several provincial institutions have retreated to the town, which is now under military administration. The inhabitants of several communes live in a climate of chronic insecurity, with growing humanitarian needs.
But in the midst of these challenges, communities are showing remarkable resilience. Despite the complex operating environment, humanitarian organizations are present and local initiatives are emerging to rebuild the social fabric and meet essential needs.
How we collaborate and why this collaboration matters
Our work aligns with the broader context of the current humanitarian funding reset, a shift driven by shrinking budgets, growing needs, and increasing pressure on aid actors to demonstrate impact and relevance. In this changing landscape, there is a renewed recognition that listening to communities is not just ethical, but essential. However, progress on this remains a challenge – one that we are trying to contribute to by pushing towards more meaningful participation. This initiative aims to contribute to a wider shift in the humanitarian sector for community-led action, often referred to as the “participation revolution”, working to move beyond one-way communication and toward a more inclusive, accountable, and community-driven approach.
Mercy Corps brings leadership and experience in accountability to affected populations (AAP) to this partnership. As the lead of the AAP Working Group in North Kivu, Mercy Corps plays a key role in shaping how humanitarian actors engage with communities in eastern DRC. AAP is a core pillar of how Mercy Corps operates, grounded in the belief that open, two-way communication with communities enhances programme relevance, acceptance, and impact. Mercy Corps invests in strengthening these communication channels, ensuring that feedback informs decision-making across program cycles.
Upinion complements this through adaptable digital tools and participatory methodologies, designed to capture both qualitative and quantitative community insights in real time. These tools enable two-way communication, allowing communities not only to share their perspectives but also to receive relevant information. By establishing continuous channels of engagement, and offering flexible conversation formats tailored to the needs of target communities, Upinion ensures that participation remains accessible, inclusive, and meaningful, informing decision-makers with grounded, actionable insights.
Implementation
At the core of this collaboration is a joint commitment to:
- Accountability: ensuring that communities can raise concerns or share feedback.
- Transparency: sharing clear and relevant updates about programs and services.
- Responsiveness: adapting approaches based on what we hear from the ground.
To achieve our long-term goal of better information-sharing with communities, our current focus is on listening to them to understand their experiences and priorities, which will inform our future work. The project was piloted in two very different settings: Beni, a more urban and connected area with relatively higher levels of education and digital literacy, and Irumu, a more rural and remote territory, where limited connectivity and lower smartphone penetration required different approaches.
This called for context-tailored engagement strategies. In Beni, participants easily adopted Upinion’s digital engagement platform, sharing links with their community via WhatsApp and other networks for broader reach. In contrast, the context in Irumu required more extensive in-person outreach in hard-to-reach areas. Sensitisation relied heavily on in-person efforts, with outreach staff taking on more hands-on roles as Upinion ambassadors. They supported participants step-by-step in submitting their responses, helping overcome barriers such as limited digital literacy, poor connectivity, and mistrust. While these barriers made collecting insights more complex, this purposeful sampling approach allowed us to include individuals who might otherwise have been excluded from digital engagement.
Lessons learned
The project’s success hinges on trust, which is built not by systems, but by people. Our local outreach staff were crucial in bridging the gap with communities. Yvette, a member of the team, reflected on the onboarding and outreach process:
This feedback is illustrative of Upinion’s commitment to ensure accessibility and understanding among participants. A first step towards achieving this was to provide a comprehensive onboarding training to our local outreach team. This training not only equipped them with technical platform management skills but also honed their communication, emphasizing the importance of guaranteeing transparency, privacy, and trust. Fostering long-term relationships are central to Upinion’s mission, making this training a cornerstone of our approach. Furthermore, it enabled the team to identify and address context-specific needs and challenges, crucial steps before any outreach begins.
After the outreach, Upinion sought feedback from the team on areas for improvement. This is part of its commitment to being adaptable and context-sensitive, as feedback can be quickly transformed into action thanks to the agile nature of its digital platform. The feedback highlighted the following:
This shows that a critical need identified in the DRC regions covered by this project is to ensure participants receive comprehensive information before engaging. Building on the need to cement communication and trust between outreach workers and communities, future initiatives could include a scheduled number of community information sessions and focused-group discussions, first introducing Upinion, the conversation topics, and the goals of the project, before subsequently onboarding individuals onto the platform.
Results and the road ahead
Overall, these community findings have allowed us to draw conclusions and helped us shape clear region-specific recommendations to guide future RESET program interventions. Communities were clear about their main priorities and highlighted most important areas of improvement: Making justice more accessible for all, strengthening local governance, better responses to people’s urgent needs and stronger collaboration between local, national, and international actors to build lasting peace and community resilience.
We hope that what we have achieved so far with this project can be the first step toward something bigger and that the community insights we have been able to gather through this collaboration can help shape future programming, not only for Mercy Corps, but potentially for other partners working in similar contexts. As a next step, there is strong potential to expand the project’s scope through information-sharing with communities, further strengthening transparency, engagement, and trust.
This project shows that community-led communication is possible, even in complex or fragmented environments, and that it has the potential to contribute to more trusted and effective humanitarian outcomes.
We invite other organizations, funders, and practitioners to join us in advancing this approach, through shared learning, joint action, or by simply making more space for community input in day-to-day work. Because when people are informed and involved, they are better equipped to protect themselves, support one another, and shape the assistance they receive.
And ultimately, that’s what good humanitarian work should aim for.
► This collaboration is just one example of how our members at The Hague Humanity Hub are driving change on the ground. If you are working on similar challenges or looking for partners in this space, we invite you to connect with us, or reach out directly to Upinion and Mercy Corps, to explore opportunities for shared learning and collaboration. ◀︎