This working paper reports on the findings emerging from the second round of the survey – previously conducted in 2012 – of households in the conflict-affected province of South Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The survey was designed to explore people’s livelihoods, access to and satisfaction with basic services, and relationships with governance processes and actors.

Key findings from statistical analysis of the data include:

• Levels of armed conflict and crime have decreased since 2012. However, over 40% of the 2015 sample described their immediate living environment as unsafe or quite dangerous.
• Between 2012 and 2015, household assets increased, housing conditions improved, and household economies diversified – though food insecurity remains high.
• Basic services are intensively used, despite the substantial user costs involved and ongoing armed conflict and crime.
• The average perception of both customary and formal local governance actors did not change much between 2012 and 2015, but central state actors scored significantly lower in 2015.
• Displaced people are not more likely to receive humanitarian assistance: livelihood support among displaced families dropped from 51% in 2012 to 34% in 2015.

Download the report from the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium's website.