The GeoPoll Socio-Political Barometer is an initiative to collect rapid, accurate, and robust data on key social and political issues in developing countries. It uses large-scale face-to-face survey research supported by state-of-the-art technology that streamlines the survey process and ensures data integrity.

The Socio-Political Barometer survey for the second quarter of 2023 was conducted across all provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo from 5 April to 20 July 2023.

Key Highlights from the Report

• Confidence in the country’s direction has decreased, especially among female respondents.
• President Tshisekedi’s average satisfaction rating has slipped back below 5/10.
• Despite declining perceptions (more prominent among the youth), Tshisekedi maintains strong support for a second term.
• Perceptions of President Tshisekedi’s policy effectiveness, notably in his free education initiative, are consistently improving, reflecting a prevailing sentiment that despite challenging circumstances, he is making significant progress in critical areas.
• There is decreasing willingness to consider alternatives as the focus narrows on preferred candidates.
• A fragmented opposition would be unlikely to challenge Tshisekedi’s re-election.
• Voter turnout is expected to be low, with only 38% intending to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Strong intention to vote correlates with positive views of Tshisekedi.

Download the Report

Fill in your email address here to download GeoPoll’s full report of the findings from this research project for free:

For more information contact [email protected].

République Démocratique du Congo – Enquête Baromètre Socio-Politique GeoPoll Q4 2022

Le Baromètre Socio-Politique de GeoPoll est une initiative visant à recueillir des données rapides, précises et robustes sur les questions sociales et politiques clés dans les pays en développement. Il utilise des enquêtes en face-à-face à grande échelle soutenues par une technologie de pointe qui simplifie le processus d’enquête et garantit l’intégrité des données.

L’enquête du Baromètre Socio-Politique pour le deuxième trimestre 2023 a été menée dans toutes les provinces de la République démocratique du Congo du 5 avril au 20 juillet 2023.

Faits saillants du rapport

• La confiance dans la direction du pays a diminué, notamment parmi les répondantes féminines.
• La note moyenne de satisfaction du Président Tshisekedi est retombée en dessous de 5/10.
• Malgré des perceptions en baisse (plus prononcées chez les jeunes), Tshisekedi bénéficie d’un fort soutien pour un second mandat.
• Les perceptions de l’efficacité des politiques du Président Tshisekedi, notamment dans son initiative d’éducation gratuite, s’améliorent régulièrement, reflétant un sentiment dominant qu’en dépit de circonstances difficiles, il réalise des progrès significatifs dans des domaines critiques.
• Il y a une diminution de la volonté de considérer des alternatives alors que le focus se resserre sur les candidats préférés.
• Une opposition fragmentée aurait peu de chances de contester la réélection de Tshisekedi.
• La participation électorale devrait être faible, avec seulement 38 % ayant l’intention de voter lors de la prochaine élection présidentielle. Une forte intention de voter est liée à des opinions positives envers Tshisekedi.

Télécharger le rapport

Renseignez votre adresse e-mail ici pour télécharger gratuitement le rapport complet de GeoPoll sur les résultats de cette recherche :

The post The GeoPoll Socio-Political Barometer Survey DRC – Q2 2023 Report appeared first on GeoPoll.

The GeoPoll Socio-Political Barometer is an initiative to collect rapid, accurate, and robust data on key social and political issues in developing countries. It uses large-scale face-to-face survey research supported by state-of-the-art technology that streamlines the survey process and ensures data integrity. We conducted the second Barometer wave from November to December 2022 and are pleased to present the report!

Key Highlights from the Report

• Access to free education continues to be the leading driver of optimism in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This wave also reveals improved perceptions of the country’s security, roads, schools, hospitals, and sporting prowess.
• Unemployment and insecurity are the most cited dysfunctional areas, closely followed by the state of the country’s roads and rising prices.
• Overall expectations from the government are similar to Q3. However, there has been a significant increase in people demanding better roads, an end to insecurity, and better financial circumstances (i.e., lower prices and higher wages.
• President Tshisekedi’s approval ratings grew from Q3 to Q4, with more people satisfied with his leadership and willing to vote for him in the upcoming elections.
• There are no signs of a significant rehabilitation of President Kabila’s legacy. A head-to-head comparison with President Tshisekedi on all matters shows a wide gap in perceptions of the two figures that are consistent and even growing a little over time
• Some respondents feel there has been an improvement in transparency and accountability from the President, with more care taken when making appointments.

Download the Report

Fill in your email address here to download GeoPoll’s full report of the findings from this research for free:

For more information contact [email protected].

République Démocratique du Congo – Enquête Baromètre Socio-Politique GeoPoll Q4 2022

Le baromètre socio-politique GeoPoll est une initiative visant à collecter des données rapides, précises et robustes sur les principaux problèmes sociaux et politiques dans les pays en développement. Il utilise une recherche par sondage à grande échelle en face à face appuyée par une technologie de pointe qui rationalise le processus d’enquête et garantit l’intégrité des données. Nous avons mené la deuxième vague du Baromètre de novembre à décembre 2022 et sommes heureux de vous présenter le rapport !

Faits saillants du rapport

• L’accès à l’éducation gratuite continue d’être le principal moteur de l’optimisme en République démocratique du Congo. Cette vague révèle également une amélioration des perceptions de la sécurité, des routes, des écoles, des hôpitaux et des prouesses sportives du pays.
• Le chômage et la précarité sont les dysfonctionnements les plus cités, suivis de près par l’état des routes du pays et la hausse des prix.
• Les attentes globales du gouvernement sont similaires à celles du T3. Cependant, il y a eu une augmentation significative du nombre de personnes réclamant de meilleures routes, la fin de l’insécurité et de meilleures finances (c’est-à-dire des prix plus bas et des salaires plus élevés).
• Les cotes d’approbation du président Tshisekedi ont augmenté du troisième au quatrième trimestre, avec plus de personnes satisfaites de son leadership et disposées à voter pour lui lors des prochaines élections.
• Il n’y a aucun signe d’une réhabilitation significative de l’héritage du président Kabila. Une comparaison directe avec le président Tshisekedi sur tous les sujets montre un large écart dans les perceptions des deux chiffres qui sont cohérents et même en croissance un peu au fil du temps
• Certains répondants pensent qu’il y a eu une amélioration de la transparence et de la responsabilité du président, avec plus de soin dans les nominations.

Télécharger le rapport

Renseignez votre adresse e-mail ici pour télécharger gratuitement le rapport complet de GeoPoll sur les résultats de cette recherche :

The post Democratic Republic of the Congo – The GeoPoll Socio-Political Barometer Survey – Q4 2022 Report appeared first on GeoPoll.

Sampling and Methodology

The Socio-Political Barometer survey for the fourth quarter of 2022 was conducted across all provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo from 15 November to 18 December 2022. A cluster sampling methodology was applied to draw a sample of 9,253 households across the DRC by means of Geospatial Information System (GIS) based selection. This sampling method is an improvement on wave 1 in terms of accuracy and representativeness, and reflects our ongoing commitment to constantly improving our work in challenging markets. A randomly selected adult member of each household completed a 20-minute face to face interview with a trained and experienced professional interviewer.

Results

The Socio-Political Barometer data collected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in November and December 2022 surfaced the following key metrics and trends.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo today, what do you think WORKS?

Access to free education continues to be the leading driver of optimism in the DR Congo. This wave also reveals improved perceptions of the country’s security, roads, schools, hospitals and sporting prowess. Potentially, the IGF has featured less in the news this quarter, and hence is less endorsed by respondents.

What do you think DOES NOT WORK?

Unemployment and insecurity are the most cited dysfunctional areas, closely followed by the state of the country’s roads and rising prices. All are cited by more respondents this wave than in July. Security and roads appearing as both functional and dysfunctional areas suggests these are polarizing issues in Congolese society – a positive experience for some and negative for others.

How satisfied are you with President Tshisekedi’s current mandate? Would you grant him a second term at the ballot box?

Only half the respondents believe there is another candidate worth considering, and when pressed to specify, 29% of those said they had not decided who that candidate might be.

For the small minority that were willing to express support for a challenger to President Tshisekedi the leader is Martin Fayulu with 18% support, followed by Moise Katumbi on 16%. Kabila, Matata and Bemba are vying for third place at around 4-5%

Closing Insights

It is not possible to determine if the apparent improvement in perceptions both of the country and the President are due to shifts in perception over time or a result of the improved sampling approach we took. Either way, President Tshisekedi would seem to be in a somewhat stronger position at this point in time than we initially estimated.

Look out for our full report in January 2023.

About GeoPoll

GeoPoll is a full-service market and social research agency that conducts surveys via computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), short message service (SMS), WhatsApp, and mobile web/mobile application communications. We also conduct online and offline qualitative research.

GeoPoll is currently operational on five continents and employs 104 permanent staff worldwide. Our headquarters is in Denver, Colorado, USA, with a second US office in Washington, DC focused on international development projects. Our largest office is our operations and project management hub in Nairobi, Kenya, with on the ground representatives and coordinators working across eight additional countries. GeoPoll also contracts with carefully selected and rigorously trained partners across the world who bring additional skills, expertise, technology, and capacity as required.

As a member of the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR), the Marketing and Social Research Association (MSRA) Kenya, the Pan African Media Research Organisation (PAMRO), the Society for International Development (SID), and the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), GeoPoll adheres to the strictest ethical and research standards and employs highly rigorous methods and approaches to data collection and analysis.

Our surveys have been cited and analyzed in several highly respected academic journals, such as the Journal of International Public Opinion Research and the Journal of International Development.

For more information contact [email protected].

The post Democratic Republic of the Congo – The GeoPoll Socio-Political Barometer Survey – Report Preview appeared first on GeoPoll.

The study was conducted from the 20^th – 26^th of August 2019 in Swahili and French, with respondents randomly selected from GeoPoll’s database of mobile subscribers in North Kivu. Out of 483 respondents, 313 were from Goma, with the remainder from other areas in North Kivu. The gender split was 58% male to 42% female, and the age breakdown was 45% 15-24, 43% 25-34, and 14% aged 35 and older. GeoPoll used our previous experience conducting surveys around Ebola and other disease outbreak to develop the questionnaire, the results of which can be seen below. Data provides a snapshot view of the on-the-ground situation and demonstrates the importance of further research in the region.

Awareness of Ebola in the DRC

Out of all respondents, 40% stated that they know of people who have contracted Ebola in the past month, with the youngest age group – ages 15-24 – being the least likely to know someone who has contracted Ebola, at 33%. The vast majority of respondents report that they are aware of the symptoms of Ebola, with females being less likely to know the symptoms; 91% of males and 86% of females reported that they know the symptoms.

A slightly smaller percentage were aware of the recent spread of Ebola in their own area, though still a strong majority of 79% reported that they knew of the outbreak. We do find some differences in the results by education level: those who had completed post-secondary school had higher levels of awareness of the outbreak, at 83% reporting awareness of Ebola, compared to 74% of those who had completed secondary school or lower levels of education.

Radio is shown to be the predominant source of information on Ebola, with 53% of respondents listing radio as their primary news/information source on Ebola, followed by social media at 17% and friends or family at 10%. WhatsApp and Facebook were listed as the most popular social media sources of information. 90% of respondents report that they have communicated with friends about Ebola and its risk.

Health Actions and Perceptions of the Ebola Response 

Aid organizations often focus on both treatment of Ebola and the distribution of information about the ways to prevent the spread of Ebola, and our survey asked several questions around the perception of the response to Ebola as well as perceived risk to disease exposure. In terms of aid presence, we found that 62% thought that healthcare or aid organizations had been more present in their area in the past two weeks. High levels reported fears about visiting health facilities for non-Ebola related illnesses, with 74% stating that people are scared to visit facilities for other health concerns. Additionally, public places are seen as the highest risk areas for exposure to Ebola, with 41% stating public transport poses the biggest risk to exposure and 39% stating general public places are the biggest risk. 86% report that they know how to prevent themselves from contracting Ebola, with no significant difference between genders.

We also examined perceptions of the Ebola response, finding relatively high levels of support for the handling of the outbreak by both the government and hospitals. In terms of how the hospitals are handling the current outbreak, 65% report the hospital response is ‘average’ or higher, while 69% reported the same regarding the government. Only 15% and 14% reported that the hospitals and government respectively are doing an ‘excellent’ job at handling the outbreak, indicating there are still areas for improvement. We also found differing levels of confidence in the government’s ability to handle a larger outbreak: If there was a wider outbreak, 37% say they are ‘not confident’ in their government’s ability to handle it, while 35% say they are ‘very confident’. We did not observe differences between age and gender for the level of confidence in the government.

Ebola in Goma

Much of the focus around Ebola in DRC recently has been centered on Goma, a border city with Rwanda, a transport hub for the region, and the capital of North Kivu. Due to concern around Ebola’s spread in this strategic location, we targeted this survey to ensure a high number of responses from Goma and asked several questions to the 313 respondents from the city.

Regarding treatment plans, we find that a high majority in Goma, 90%, would go to a health facility or hospital if they thought they had Ebola, rather than going to a private doctor or using traditional medicine. Further supporting the perceived value of hospitals to treat Ebola, we find that 93% say if someone in their household had symptoms they would go to a health facility quickly rather than treating them at home. Despite this, when asked specifically about Ebola Treatment Units, units specifically designed to treat and prevent the spread of Ebola, we found less knowledge of their uses. Just over half of Goma respondents said they were familiar with what happens at an ETU.

During high-profile disease outbreaks such as Ebola in DRC, there can be a level of concern over notifying officials of symptoms due to perceived stigma, however, we find that 84% in Goma would tell official Ebola response workers if they became infected with the disease. Despite high levels of worry over contracting Ebola, with 46% of respondents from Goma stating they are ‘very worried’ about becoming infected, we find a split response on people avoiding public spaces due to the disease: 48% have avoided areas like markets and stadiums, and 52% say they have not avoided public spaces.

Conducting Surveys in the Democratic Republic of Congo

To learn more about how GeoPoll’s mobile-based surveys and communications can be used to aid the Ebola response effort in DRC please contact us.

The post Ebola in DRC: SMS Survey Results appeared first on GeoPoll.

The same questionnaire was administered to different respondents by research firm Bureau d’études, de Recherches, et de Consulting International at the same time, and results were compared. Findings demonstrated that both firms reached the same general conclusions, with some differences, mostly based on differing education levels in each sample.

Major findings included that the potential for violence following elections is extremely high, with 48% saying they would “most certainly and/or probably” protest against rigged elections. Over 50% do not trust courts to fairly resolve electoral disputes. Data also found there is a highly engaged electorate in the DRC, with over 90% saying they intended to vote in the election. According to the survey, opposition candidate Martin Fayulu was the favorite candidate.

Full results are available in the report produced by NYU’s Congo Research Group, which is available for download here.

The post Democratic Republic of Congo Election Poll Released appeared first on GeoPoll.

Ituri province, a northeastern province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has been experiencing increasing levels of violence and unrest. Interethnic fighting stemming from years-old disputes over land use and political differences has grown recently, resulting in more than 40,000 Congolese fleeing the country and even larger numbers becoming internally displaced. It is estimated that since December 2017, over 260 people have died and over 200,000 have left their homes, and in April 2018 the United Nations discovered suspected mass graves that indicate the crisis may be worse than reported.

For humanitarian aid groups and governments looking to measure the severity of the crisis and provide assistance to those in need, on-the-ground data is imperative. However, growing insecurity and the remote nature of the region makes face-to-face data collection difficult – with the lack of internet connectivity and landlines in the DRC compounding the many challenges faced when trying to reach citizens impacted by the conflict.

In a situation like this, remote data collection by mobile phone is one of the best ways to collect data quickly, and so in April 2018, GeoPoll deployed our remote mobile data collection tool to collect vital information from respondents in Ituri province.

SMS Surveys in the DRC Show High Levels of Displacement and Food Insecurity

GeoPoll utilized SMS (text message) surveys to gather on-the-ground data on food insecurity, levels of displacement, and individual opinions on the conflict in Ituri province. Surveys were sent to GeoPoll’s panel of respondents in the DRC, and data was collected in just 2 days. Results can be viewed in full here.

Higlights include:

• Displacement Reported: The majority (60%) of respondents reported that they are displaced from home at the time of the survey.
• Reach of International Aid: About half of respondents are currently receiving food or cash assistance from the government, NGOs, churches, or other sources (49%).
• High Degree of Food Insecurity: Although results of this survey cannot determine the cause of this issue, food insecurity in this province at the time of the survey was very high. In particular:
  • 93% of respondents reported that they ate fewer meals in a day over the last seven days; and
  • 64% percent of respondents reporting not having sufficient food to feed their family for the upcoming week.
• Differing Opinions on Problem of Conflict: Interestingly, respondents were essentially split on the two ends of the spectrum with their rating of how large of a problem conflict is in their community, with 44% saying that it is not a problem at all, and 45% saying that it is a major problem.

View our case study to read the full report, and contact us with questions, if you would like to request the full dataset, or if you are interested in carrying out your own research project in the DRC.

The post GeoPoll Data from DRC’s Conflict-Ridden Ituri Province appeared first on GeoPoll.