Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes the process and impact of the huge response to sexual violence in DRCongo. It draws on two cycles of research in 2011 and 2014. The paper then theorizes on hypes in development, that result from reinforcing loops of media frenzy, NGO eagerness and pragmatic local responses.

Paper long abstract:

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been a site of high prevalence of sexual violence, and also the country of a huge response to sexual violence. This article first argues that the response to sexual violence turned into a hype towards 2010. Like other hypes in development, it evolved from reinforcing loops of media frenzy, NGO eagerness and pragmatic local responses. In an 2011 research, the authors of this paper interviewed aid workers and other stakeholders and examined files of legal cases. They found that the response to sexual violence had become characterised by misuse and misrepresentation at different levels. This prompted renewed research in 2014. At this time, the scope of the response had significantly shrunk. The paper reviews the medical and legal assistance and finds evidence for incremental improvement in the response, that has become better coordinated, with more engagement of the Congolese government, less victim-oriented and taking on a broader notion of gender-based violence. Nonetheless, concerns remain in relation to its impact, the continued dependence on international resources, and the social responses to the fight against impunity that has become embedded in the political economy of survival and corruption and seems to add to moral confusion on the changing gender relations in DRC.