Informal economy is currently creating more employment than ever in sub-Saharan African cities by absorbing a large number of city residents. From West, East, Central and Southern Africa, informal economy is contributing enormously to the GDP and economic growth and development. Paradoxically, while it is doing so, little is being done to examine its potential and to provide it with appropriate management strategies as tools to support this sector and increase its productivity within the government revenue base. It is within this context that efforts have to be developed by exploring alternative strategies that can contribute to the debate of enhancing informal economy to increase its productivity, particularly in the city of Kinshasa. This could allow this sector to participate productively and purposefully to economic growth and development as well as to improvement of living standards of sub-Saharan African cities’ residents.

Thèse--Lettres--Toulouse II, 1979. / Bibliogr. f. 434-469.

In recent years, the concept of poverty has shifted away from a narrow definition—caloric intake based poverty—to a much broader one that places emphasis on a variety of factors, such as health, education, income, and powerlessness. Most researchers agree that eliminating poverty requires a holistic approach that is attentive to promoting pro-poor growth, creating opportunities for employment, ensuring that the fruits of growth reach impoverished communities, and protecting vulnerable segments of the impoverished population. This study looks the role of microcredits, which has received increasing attention as a means to combat poverty. The advent of neoliberalism led to advances in autonomous markets, commodification, market-led growth, and the dissolution of the Keynesian welfare state. Microcredit growing out of a neoliberal shift plays a powerful role as an instrument to fight poverty, especially in the age government and state failure, entrepreneurial expansion and self-employment income-earing opportunities. Microcredit programs are of great interest to governments, non-governmental organization, and banks because of their potential for reducing poverty. Critics of the microcredit movement argue that microcredit does little besides replacing existing informal credit arrangements to fund subsistence activity, which they view as having little or no prospect of growth. They argue that support of microcredit may over anticipate its benefits, such as the alleviation of poverty and female empowerment. This study assesses the effectiveness of microcredit combined asset building as a pro-growth approach to reduce poverty sustainably in Kinshasa. The recent crises of over-indebtedness in several markets and Kinshasa have fueled growing concern that microcredit may be getting borrowers into trouble. However, my study findings show that assets, specifically microcredit, can stem the poverty cycle and better enable individuals to "stand on their own two feet"socio-economically if combined with other innovative programs. This study uses the test of significance to assess the effectiveness microcredit integrated asset building. / Ph. D.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

<p align="justify">Les Européens (Belges, Grecs et Italiens) du Katanga, dont le nombre s’est considérablement réduit au cours de la période post-coloniale, forment aujourd’hui le groupe le plus puissant de l’économie de la région. Au vu des troubles qui ont marqué l’histoire du Congo depuis l’indépendance, pourquoi sont-ils restés sur place ?Comment ont-ils développé leurs affaires dans une économie sur le déclin, en voie de marginalisation, et dans une structure politique patrimoniale de plus en plus instable ?Et quelle est leur place au sein de la société congolaise ?Telle est la triple question de départ à laquelle tente de répondre cette thèse en abordant de façon successive, au fil des chapitres, leur parcours migratoire, leur insertion dans la société congolaise, la dynamique de leur communauté, leur rôle dans les deux plus gros secteurs de la région, et leurs rapports avec les représentants de l’Etat. Elle prend appui pour ce faire sur une recherche de terrain conduite entre 2003 et 2004.</p><p><p align="justify">If the number of Europeans (Belgians, Greeks and Italians) living in Katanga has considerably decreased during the post-colonial period, they represent today the most powerful entrepreneurial group of the local economy. Once considered the troubles they came across since independence, why did they remain in the Congo? How did they develop their business in a declining economy, in process of marginalization, and in a patrimonial political structure, which proves to be more and more unstable? Finally, what is their place and role in Congolese society? These are the three questions this thesis tries to give an answer. Through the chapters, it studies the migration of expatriates in Africa, their relationship with Congolese society, the dynamics of their community, their role in the two most important sectors of Katanga, and the way they interact with the agents of the State. For this purpose, it rests upon a fieldwork research led between 2003 and 2004.</p> / Doctorat en sciences sociales, Orientation anthropologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study addresses urban planning problems in the post-independence zones or townships of Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire. It serves as a demonstration project aiming at showing how local resources, labor and funds could be mobilized to help local people solve the problems affecting their communities. It supports the view that with little government support and/or international contribution, self-help projects could be initiated in Kinshasa city before they may be extended to the rest of the country. This particular pilot project is intended for the improvement of the Southern Extension District (S.E.D.).It covers an area about 5 Kilometers long and 2.5 Kms. wide, which comprises the entire zone of Bumbu, the eastern side of Makala, and the Northern side of Selembao zones. This site was selected for the various resources needed for the Self-Help Project. The major problems of this post-independence district are erosion/flooding, substandard houses, and lack of playgrounds for children.It is proposed that an organizational framework becreated, which will coordinate an ongoing process of improvement through self-help effort. Actions that the residents and the government need to undertake in order to create such a framework are suggested. Creation of an independent entity named "Office of Special Project", whose personnel will come from the Department of Planning and Urban Management (B.E.A.U.), Housing Department and Public Works department is also suggested. This office will serve as a sponsoring agency whose mission is to create a multipurpose co-operative at each zone or township level and to supervise the improvement process. Its staff will meet on a regular basis with the representatives of these co-operatives to discuss the problems of the community with the local people and provide them with the expertise needed to complete the project successfully. / Department of Urban Planning

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, September 2016. / The purpose of this research was to investigate the concepts of social and environmental justice in the context of solid waste management in Kinshasa and the critical factors accounting for injustice in this context. The investigation followed an examination of the relevant theoretical framework(s) and mechanisms that would facilitate the attainment of social and environmental justice in the city of Kinshasa, DRC. It was argued that social justice and environmental justice are a global challenge, and that efforts to address these challenges are usually biased towards employing eurocentric frameworks that are unfit to deal with the reality of environmental problems in a developing country scenario. The use of eurocentric urban development and planning approaches, which in most cases are outdated, have significantly propagated issues of spatial inequality in the distribution of solid waste burdens and have contributed to worsening justice concerns in many cities in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It has been illustrated in this study that social justice and environmental justice in the context of solid waste management must be seen as intrinsically connected, as both concepts emphasise the need for empirical understandings grounded in local contexts. Social and environmental justices play fundamental roles in the theoretical construction of principles that can contribute to a sustainable community, thereby ensuring that the rights and needs of individuals in a society are met. In the context of solid waste, the concepts of social justice and environmental justice are compelling because of their focus on ensuring equal service delivery in solid waste collection and disposal, while simultaneously redressing previous imbalances. Walker (2009) argues that the principles of environmental and social justice and sustainable development are more generally in their infancy in sub-Saharan Africa, and few implementing agencies and practitioners have a clear understanding of how to translate these global principles into practice. It is not surprising, therefore, that unresolved issues around sustainable development and environmental justice have emerged in a period during which implementation and the real implications of following a justice pathway have overwhelmed many urban managers in sub-Saharan African cities (Patel 2009). Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods together with system thinking and system dynamics modelling principles as integral frameworks in understanding the complexity in solid waste management, it has been demonstrated that solid waste management in Kinshasa, like in many Congolese cities, is a duty entrusted to publicly-funded municipal authorities. There is a clear divide and evidence in the manner by which solid waste is managed between the rich and poor neighborhoods of the city. The rich neighbourhoods seem to enjoy well-formulated systems of service delivery, in contrast with high-density areas, where almost 80% of the population in Kinshasa resides. This state of affairs is a result of inequalities that exist between the more powerful wealthy class and the disempowered poor people of the urban society in Kinshasa. Furthermore, cultural theory paradigms and conceptual System Dynamics (SD) modelling principles were employed to establish how the stakeholders in the form of four social solidarities (fatalist, hierarchist, individualist and egalitarian) influence solid waste management in the city and how they interact with each other dynamically. Based on this inter-linkage, interaction and causal feedback relations, a politico-cultural mechanism was evolved to enable changes to social and environmental injustices in solid waste management in Kinshasa, DRC. It was argued that a cultural theory inspired participative and collaborative mechanisms could result in the incorporation of a majority of the stakeholders in the decision making and implementation of solid waste management, adoption of technologies and innovative ways of managing solid waste, which could prompt social and environmental justice in solid waste management in Kinshasa, DRC. The findings of the study have both theoretical and practical implications. They provide a thorough discourse on environmental justice in solid waste management and how cultural theory paradigm can offer a new dimension to the theories behind stakeholder’s participation in local development and management matters, particularly with respect to social and environmental injustice in solid waste management in sub-Saharan African cities. They also explicitly show how the various social solidarities could work dynamically in an integrated manner, and enable development of policy intervention mechanisms to resolve the solid waste management challenges and attain social and environmental justice through their effective collaboration, and participation, although this may be through compromises and tradeoffs in place of consensus. This paradigm could assist government agencies like municipalities to develop appropriate policy interventions and implementation strategies to resolve solid waste management challenges in sub-Saharan African cities in general and in the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular. Keywords: Cultural theory, environmental justice, social justice, solid waste management, urban environmental problem, Kinshasa / LG2017

Proefschrift Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. / Bibliogr.: p. [213]-232. - Met noten en een samenvatting in het Frans en Nederlands.

L’accident vasculaire cérébral (AVC) est la cause majeure de la dépendance de l’adulte dans les pays à faible et moyens revenus, y compris la République Démocratique du Congo (DRC). Il y entraine des dépenses majeures pour sa prise en charge en réadaptation alors que les personnes qui en sont victimes manquent souvent des moyens pour supporter les soins de réadaptation. Cette situation peut contribuer à limiter l’accès aux soins de réadaptation à moyen et long termes, avec des répercussions sur la récupération fonctionnelle en termes d’activités de la vie quotidienne (AVQ), de capacité de marcher chez soi ou en communauté, et de participation. De nombreuses études réalisées dans des contextes divers ont fourni des portraits sur les niveaux de réalisation des AVQ et/ou de la marche chez les patients post-AVC. D’autres études se sont focalisées sur la participation de ces patients. Mais à ce jour, à notre connaissance, rien de pareil n’a été conduit dans le contexte de la RDC et de Kinshasa en particulier. C’est ainsi que l’étude que nous avons menée à Kinshasa, capitale de la RDC avait comme buts de (1) décrire les niveaux d’activité et de participation des patients post-AVC vivant à Kinshasa et (2) comparer ces niveaux par rapport aux catégories de vitesse de marche de ces patients. Les résultats ont montré que ces patients, malgré le revenu mensuel insuffisant, voire même inexistant, et le manque d’assurance maladie pour nombreux d’entre eux, avaient généralement un bon niveau d’activité. Cependant, pris individuellement, la plupart de ces patients présentaient encore des limitations à accomplir des activités en communauté. Ils nécessitent donc le soutien de leurs familles respectives et une attention particulière de la part des soignants pour qu’ils progressent, dans la mesure du possible, en termes d’activité et de participation. / Stroke is the major cause of adult dependence in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It leads to enormous expenditure for rehabilitation care, while stroke survivors in this country often experience financial difficulties for supporting rehabilitation care. This situation may contribute to limiting access to mild-and long-term rehabilitation care, with repercussions on functional recovery in terms of activities of daily life (ADLs), walking ability at home or in the community, and participation. Many studies carried out in various contexts have provided portraits on the levels of ADLs and/or walking ability after stroke. Other studies have focused on poststroke participation. Given that, to our knowledge, there is no available study in DRC and Kinshasa particularly, neither on activity and participation nor on walking ability after stroke, our study aimed ) to (1) describe the levels of activity and participation of post-stroke patients living in Kinshasa and (2) compare these levels across subgroup-based walking speed. The results showed that these patients, despite insufficient or non-existent monthly income, and the lack of health insurance for many of them, generally had a good level of activity. However, taken individually, most of these patients still had limitations in performing community activities. They therefore require the support of their respective families and special attention on the part of caregivers to progress, as far as possible, in terms of activity and participation.

This document is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture [Professional] at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in the year 2015 / As a former colonial city, Kinshasa today has developed into a giant metropolis where grand visions, failed realisations and adaptation based on survival seems to succeed and sometimes overlay each other in a complex and heterogeneous urban fabric. Where the colonial planning attempted to create clear zones of separation between the white city and the indigenous suburbs, the post-colonial politics of urbanization have taken a different shift. The spectral ambitions of the leaders on one side and the random occupation of space by city dwellers on the other have resulted in a struggle of power to define and re-appropriate public space in an attempt to create the proper city. Situated on Avenue Bar. Jacques, in an area where the physical and mental tensions that marks the edge of la Ville and la Cité are still perceptible, I propose a performance hub for the everyday. Here staged events just like the spontaneous, and sometimes theatrical, appropriation of space by daily activities will constitute performances. By creating a new synergy between conventionally opposed notions such as formal and informal, old and new, and staged and ambient, this project is an exploration of a model of space-making that breaks away from the authoritarian approach that has punctuated (continues to do so) the shaping of the urban landscape of Kinshasa. Informants for the design derive from patterns and elements that characterize the resilient ways in which the city’s life recreates itself on a daily basis. The urban framework proposes to bridge the Central Market and the City Centre in a soft, egalitarian way where the transformation in the urban character across this area is no longer so harsh. Through themes such as temporality, hybridity and adaptability, this project attempts to form an argument to what Kinshasa’s architecture should lend itself to by blurring the distinction between what is still considered centre and periphery. / EM2017