Paris Pledging Push: $2.5 bn Target for Great Lakes Aid

Paris conference sets ambitious humanitarian benchmark

The French capital hosts the Conference for Peace and Prosperity in the Great Lakes, an initiative designed to lift humanitarian funding from the current USD 500 million to USD 2.5 billion by 2025. Presidents Félix Tshisekedi and Emmanuel Macron opened the meeting, framing the target as both realistic and indispensable to stabilise one of Africa’s most fragile regions.

French officials argue that the increase aligns with United Nations projections for eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where conflict, displacement and food insecurity sharply escalated over the past twelve months. They insist that a compact combining short-term relief and long-term development will offer donors clearer metrics for impact.

Eastern DRC: the epicentre of unmet needs

An estimated 6.9 million people are displaced inside DRC, most of them in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. Local health facilities report recurrent outbreaks of measles, cholera and sexual violence-related trauma. Limited road access and intermittent insecurity keep many communities beyond the reach of conventional aid pipelines.

‘There is very little visibility on the Congolese crisis,’ warns Dr De-Joseph Kakisingi, a Bukavu-based gynaecologist who chairs the National Council of Humanitarian and Development NGO Forums. Speaking on the sidelines of the Paris gathering, he stressed that lifesaving commodities rarely make it past provincial capitals in time to prevent avoidable deaths.

From operating room to diplomatic podium

Dr Kakisingi’s presence in Paris underscores a shift in humanitarian advocacy, where medical professionals from conflict zones increasingly shape donor conversations. His day-to-day experience in Panzi Hospital, renowned for treating survivors of gender-based violence, lends practical weight to requests for better logistics, surgical supplies and trauma counselling.

He argues that an injection of funding must be matched by smarter deployment. In his words, frontline responders need ‘medicines, fuel and protective corridors, not spreadsheets’. Delegates from the European Union, African Development Bank and several Gulf funds privately concede that processionary budgeting has often delayed treatments beyond their clinical window.

France–DRC convergence: interests and optics

For President Macron, the pledge drive illustrates France’s stated pivot toward equitable partnerships in Africa. Paris officials highlight France’s historical ties to the Great Lakes and its seat on the UN Security Council, contending that domestic constituencies back a prevention-oriented approach that reduces long-term military spending.

President Tshisekedi, for his part, uses the summit to reinforce DRC’s narrative as both victim and actor: victim of regional militias but actor capable of reform and coordination. His government recently finalised a humanitarian response plan that assigns line ministries explicit benchmarks, a move applauded by several donors in Paris.

Regional ripples and Congo-Brazzaville’s quiet diplomacy

Although Brazzaville is not in the media spotlight, Congolese authorities across the river view Great Lakes stability as integral to their own security and trade corridors. Diplomats note that President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s envoys participated in preparatory meetings, supporting the financing target while encouraging synergy with existing CEMAC mechanisms.

Observers emphasise that Congo-Brazzaville’s calibrated engagement, neither flamboyant nor detached, can help bridge communication gaps between Kinshasa, Kigali and Kampala. Brazzaville’s role in past CIRGL mediation efforts, particularly on refugee repatriation, provides a template for future confidence-building measures centred on humanitarian corridors.

Tracking the money: accountability questions

Donors frequently cite opaque procurement and parallel coordination structures as bottlenecks in eastern DRC. The French Development Agency proposes a pooled fund governed by a steering committee where civil society, including CONAFOHD, sits alongside governments and multilateral banks. Advocates argue that such architecture will reduce duplication and accelerate disbursement timelines.

The World Food Programme, meanwhile, pilots blockchain-based vouchers in Goma to improve beneficiary verification. Early results indicate a 12 percent reduction in leakages. Paris delegates reference the pilot as proof that technological safeguards can coexist with community-driven oversight.

What success might look like by 2025

If the USD 2.5 billion target is met, aid planners envisage rehabilitated roads linking Bukavu to rural health centres, expanded psychosocial units for survivors of violence and cash-for-work schemes to stabilise returnee communities. Regional traders hope improved security will reopen the Uvira–Bujumbura–Kigali corridor, lowering food prices across the Great Lakes.

Yet success will hinge on political will as much as finance. Delegates left Paris acknowledging that humanitarian injections cannot substitute for a durable ceasefire in North Kivu nor comprehensive disarmament of armed groups. The conference therefore adopted a monitoring clause tying quarterly disbursements to verifiable security benchmarks.

After Paris: sustaining momentum

Follow-up meetings are scheduled in Kinshasa and Brussels next spring to track pledges and field impact reviews. Dr Kakisingi intends to host a medical symposium in Bukavu on the eve of the Kinshasa review, aiming to channel frontline data directly to policymakers.

For donors, visibility—his watchword—will remain the leitmotif. ‘If cameras and supplies reach the same villages, we can make this summit matter,’ he observed before boarding his flight home. Whether the world keeps its gaze fixed on eastern DRC beyond the glare of Paris will determine the legacy of this ambitious pledge drive.