Democracy Boat | Congo — compagniedakar

Democracy Boat | Congo

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Le bateau de la Democratie

The Democracy Boat project was a awareness raising campaign, consisting of a river caravan with a floating Theater, consisting of more than hundred fifty public events on civic and electoral education with a floating podium from Kisangani to Mbandaka

The project was executed by Arts en Actions in Congo, a sister organization of Compagnie Dakar in DRC, with several local partners. The project raised awareness on civic and electoral education, as well as on the peaceful resolution of electoral conflicts. Placed under the theme ‘the Boat of Democracy’, this campaign features 100 musical comedy shows, 60 discussion activities and 40 participatory theater performances - for local populations in 30 urban centers between Kisangani and Mbandaka, along the Congo River – for a period of three years.

For this purpose, a floating podium boat was built. This floating podium allowed musical comedy shows to be presented in front of an audience of more than a thousand people seated on the banks of the river. The boat made a real odyssey – several journeys of more than 1000 kilometers along the river crossing the middle of the equatorial forest – between Kisangani and Mbandaka. At each stage, the boat gave rise to presentations of the musical comedy performed by professional artists for populations who had, in general, never seen such a theater.

The ‘Boat of Democracy’ project is aimed to promote governance and respect for human rights through innovative tools. The project benefited from support from the European Union within the framework of the “European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. ". The action was carried out in partnership with local civil society organizations as well as the national electoral commission (CENI).

In each village, the project team engaged in dialogue with the local population to identify and analyze local conflicts related to elections and good electoral conduct. Based on local interventions, the team adapted the show relating to locally experienced conflicts – ethnic conflicts, conflicts linked to land, conflicts of interest and conflicts linked to clientelism.

In the evening, when the riverside residents returned from their fields or their daily activities, the artists called on the population to come to the riverside to watch the show on the democracy boat. At the end of the show, spectators were invited to the stage - to propose possible solutions to the conflicts demonstrated in the show.

Compagnie Dakar and its partners have solid experience in raising awareness – promoting diversity and dialogue in a context of democratization.

The DRC Congo was going through a turbulent and decisive period. The survival of its young democracy and people's confidence in democratic institutions were at stake. After the disappointing elections of 2011 – and after more than 40 years of governance problems, corruption, insecurity and instability politically, the gap between state services and the population remained marked in the DRC. This awareness campaign aimed to educate the population and local leaders on the smooth running of the elections.