Diaspora in Action: Congolese communities abroad respond to crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
03 September 2025
DEMAC publishes Real-Time Review on diaspora-led humanitarian efforts in Eastern DR Congo
The Congolese diaspora, predominantly residing in Western Europe, North America, Australia, and East Africa, is estimated between 500,00 to around 2 million. However, the real number of Congolese abroad, in particular in African countries, is likely to be much higher because many migrants are not registered. The extensive Congolese diaspora sends home an annual remittance streams that outpaces institutional humanitarian funding: According to the World Bank, in 2023, Congolese individuals living abroad remitted $3.3 billion.
In January 2025, the March 23 Movement (M23) militia seized control of Goma, intensifying a conflict that has long destabilized Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. By June, more than 3.8 million people had been displaced across North and South Kivu, marking one of the world’s most acute humanitarian emergencies. While the ceasefire negotiated in July 2025 offered temporary relief, the humanitarian system is challenged by a decrease of international aid, with US funding cuts contributing to massive shortfalls in emergency response.
Due to these constraints, the increasingly vital response that has emerged from the Congolese diaspora is hugely felt in key sectors such as health and food security. With our latest Real-Time Review focused on DR Congo, DEMAC aims to narrow the research and policy gap in the field of diaspora participation and impact, leading to promising results.
Documenting Diaspora Action
Between January to July 2025, DEMAC and the Danish Refugee Council in DR Congo conducted a Real-Time Review (RTR) to examine how diaspora organizations (DOs) mobilized to support humanitarian efforts in the Kivu regions. The research mapped 53 DOs, surveyed 13, and interviewed 47 key informants from 29 entities, including DOs, Congolese civil society organizations (CSOs), international NGOs, and government representatives.
The majority of the diaspora organizations consulted were created after 2005 and are registered in Europe, North America, and East Africa. Of the 53 identified, 34 currently operate in the Kivu regions: some in urban centers, others in rural areas.
Countries of residence of mapped Diaspora Organizations
We are a bit excited to understand what they do. It seems they are doing a lot but we don’t see them. They are not present in the coordination architecture. If we knew them, it would be easier to mobilize them. I see a huge role but need to see how they can fit in and what their aid did in practice on the ground. - UN Representative
Key Findings
Legal Ambiguity and Registration Practices
Diaspora actors face legal ambiguity in DR Congo, as they are neither fully recognized as political nor humanitarian stakeholders. Registration practices vary: some DOs operate as local branches of formal organizations, others as separate legal entities, sometimes under different names to conceil their diaspora links due to fear or retaliation.
Collaboration with Local CSOs and Government
DOs frequently intervene in health, education, emergency relief, and advocacy. Their work is often informal, relying on local networks to deliver school kits, hygiene items, and medical supplies, or to organize mobile clinics. While some initiatives are autonomous, others depend on local CSOs. A few engage in multi-actor partnerships, but all lack access to formal coordination platforms such as the cluster system. Only three examples of formal MoU-based collaboration with local government health projects were documented.
Most frequent DOs worked across the following sectors
Most of our projects are based on urgent needs. When we receive a request for help, we act. It could be a family needing shelter or a woman needing emergency surgery… Our model is human-first. - Diaspora organization member
Funding and Financial Channels
Funding is primarily crowdsourced. DOs raise money through digital campaigns, religious groups, or diaspora community events. Most use mobile money platforms to transfer funds, as a workaround to the banking system closure. This model enables direct engagement with beneficiaries, speed, and flexibility, but also presents risks around transparency, security, and sustainability.
Strengths and Limitations of the Diaspora Model
Diaspora engagement is driven by trust, proximity, and urgency. Their informality allows them to bypass institutional bureaucracies to react more quickly to emerging needs. Because many staff and volunteers are from affected communities, participants felt that DOs responded better to community needs.
Photo Credits: DRC DR Congo
For me, it’s the first time I’ve heard about the diaspora. There is no official information. Of course, there is a network, but we don’t have any structured information. - INGO representative
Case Study: Integrating Diaspora Response into Local Health Plans
Diaspora Médicale Plus (DMP-RDC) was founded by Congolese medical professionals abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic to support healthcare in DR Congo. Initially an informal emergency network, it became a registered NGO in 2021 with a local office in Bukavu. The organization collaborates with local health workers through WhatsApp-based needs assessments and weekly reviews by diaspora health professionals. Through formal agreements with health zones, DMP-RDC delivers mobile clinics, health education, and medical supplies aligned with public health plans.
Fractured Trust on the Frontlines
The perception of diaspora organizations (DOs) are by local civil society groups, government actors, and international humanitarian agencies arise issues with the establishment of trust. While DOs often view their flexible, community-driven approaches as a strength, many local CSOs and INGOs see them as a liability. There were mentions of concerns regarding DOs’ professionalism, financial transparency, and disregard for ongoing local efforts. DOs themselves acknowledged these tensions, noting misunderstandings about the awareness of the diaspora of the conditions in the country of origin. This perception has left many DOs dealing with mistrust, often without access to funding or equal partnerships.
A Call for Strategic Engagement
The Real-Time Review concludes with a set of recommendations for diaspora organizations, local CSOs, government authorities, and institutional humanitarian actors. These include shifting from reactive aid to strategic investment, systemizing monitoring and needs assessments, and forming collective platforms to amplify the DOs impact.
As the humanitarian system in Eastern DR Congo faces unprecedented struggles, the findings of this review highlight a critical truth: diaspora organizations are an essential actor in emergency response. Agile, well-connected, and deeply committed, they are sustaining communities where formal aid cannot reach, making the recognition of their support an urgent matter.
DEMAC, Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and Farsight Global would like to give their thanks to members of the Congolese diaspora around the globe, as well as representatives of local civil society organizations (CSOs), local government officials, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and all other actors who supported this Real-Time Review (RTR) of diaspora humanitarian efforts in North and South Kivu provinces. We’re proud to honor the expertise and lived experience of actors across the sector.
This Real-Time Review is made possible by the generous support of the H2H Network under the Activation Fund for DR Congo through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The contents and opinions expressed in this report should not be attributed to and do not represent the views of DEMAC and H2H Network.
