P-DDRCS–SWEDEN–FBA | STRENGTHENING NATIONAL DDR CAPACITY AND ADVANCING GENDER-RESPONSIVE PROGRAMMING IN THE DRC
Kinshasa, Wednesday, August 19, 2026, Democratic Republic of the Congo — The Disarmament, Demobilization, Community Recovery and Stabilization Program (P-DDRCS) held a strategic working session with representatives of the Embassy of Sweden and the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) in Stockholm to advance cooperation on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) and the systematic integration of a gender perspective across DDR processes.
The discussions took place against an increasingly complex security environment, characterized by multiple armed groups as well as foreign and cross-border armed actors. The P-DDRCS emphasized that women and men participate in armed conflict differently and are affected by violence in distinct ways. Gender mainstreaming must therefore be treated as a cross-cutting operational requirement throughout the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of DDR and DDR/RR interventions.
A key priority identified during the session was the need to strengthen capacity from senior decision-making levels to provincial and territorial structures, consistent with the decentralized implementation approach of the P-DDRCS National Strategy. Particular emphasis was placed on building sustainable expertise among actors responsible for conflict analysis, operational planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation of DDR interventions at the local level.
The discussions also generated strong convergence around the proposed capacity-development methodology. Rather than relying on a conventional training model, the initiative would favor an interactive, practitioner-centered workshop combining technical concepts, case studies, peer learning, facilitated exchanges, and lessons drawn from the DRC’s extensive DDR experience.
FBA underscored the importance of grounding the initiative in Congolese operational realities and expertise, recognizing that the DRC has accumulated nearly three decades of experience in addressing armed conflict and DDR-related challenges. The approach would therefore promote mutual learning rather than externally prescribed solutions.
The parties further highlighted the regional and cross-border dimensions of DDR/RR, and the importance of connecting national capacity development with broader peace, security, and stabilization dynamics in the Great Lakes region.
The working session represents an important step toward a more structured P-DDRCS–Sweden–FBA partnership, built around national ownership, institutional capacity development, gender-responsive DDR, decentralized implementation, and regional coherence.
The next phase will focus on refining the workshop design, expected outcomes, participant profiles, and implementation arrangements, with the objective of translating this strategic dialogue into practical and sustainable institutional capacity.
P-DDRCS Communications Unit
