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Governance with Empty Pockets: The Education Sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo

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  • Tom Herdt
  • Kristof Titeca

Abstract

type="main"> The education sector has virtually disappeared from the Congolese state budget since the mid-1980s. Yet schools have both managed to survive on school fees and to reproduce the public education sector, even though complete privatization would have been a realistic option. In this article, the authors understand this engagement with the state whilst simultaneously bending its rules as a negotiation strategy for better terms of inclusion in the state system. Different state actors cultivate their ‘own’ practical versions of official rules. In this way, they create space to respond to parents’ demand for education, to increase the number of teachers and their salaries far beyond what would otherwise have been possible, and to reproduce the system over time. One may wonder, however, whether the resilience of the sector in the face of the implosion of the state budget does not come at the price of building a more inclusive and higher quality education system.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Herdt & Kristof Titeca, 2016. "Governance with Empty Pockets: The Education Sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(3), pages 472-494, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:47:y:2016:i:3:p:472-494
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12235
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kristof Titeca & Tom De Herdt & Inge Wagemakers, 2013. "God and Caesar in the Democratic Republic of Congo: negotiating church--state relations through the management of school fees in Kinshasa's Catholic schools," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(135), pages 116-131, March.
    2. Theodore Trefon, 2009. "Public Service Provision in a Failed State: Looking Beyond Predation in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(119), pages 9-21, March.
    3. De Herdt, Tom & Olivier de Sardan, Jean-Pierre, 2015. "Real governance and practical norms in Sub-Saharan Africa: the game of the rules," IOB Analyses & Policy Briefs 15, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    4. Jean‐Pierre Olivier de Sardan, 2011. "The Eight Modes of Local Governance in West Africa," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(2), pages 22-31, March.
    5. Tom De Herdt & Kristof Titeca & Inge Wagemakers, 2012. "Make Schools, Not War? Donors' Rewriting of the Social Contract in the DRC," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 30(6), pages 681-701, November.
    6. Ostrom, Elinor, 1996. "Crossing the great divide: Coproduction, synergy, and development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1073-1087, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anuradha Joshi, 2023. "What makes “difficult” settings difficult? Contextual challenges for accountability," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(S1), March.
    2. Brandt, Cyril Owen, 2019. "The deployment of internally displaced teachers (DR Congo): A “real governance” approach," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 147-154.
    3. Olsson, Ola & Eriksson Baaz, Maria & Martinsson, Peter, 2016. "Tolling on the River: Trade and Informal Taxation on the Congo," Working Papers in Economics 679, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

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