The health sector of the Belgian development cooperation aims to work together with associations and groups of solidarity who also implement programmes on health. A working group has been set up around cooperation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), that brings together Belgian NGOs and cooperation stakeholders with individuals, the so-called “fourth pillar” initiatives and groups. The DRC working group began its activities in 2011 under the impulse of several Belgian development cooperation stakeholders working in the health sector in the DRC, who were aware of the importance of the DRC as a key country in Belgian development cooperation.

Through its discussions and other pleas, in Belgium as well as in the DRC, the working group wanted to make sure that the health sector would be represented again in the development cooperation with the DRC. In fact, as a result of the Mixed Belgian-Congolese Commission’s 2010-2013 activities, the health sector had been excluded from the priority sectors of the bilateral cooperation between the DRC and Belgium.

The members of the working group were also engaged in the participation and the organisation of two seminars: 1) the regional seminar on strengthening Health Services, which brought together participants from the three Great Lake countries, i.e. the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda (Rubavu, September 2011) and 2) the workshop on the capitalisation and the exchange of experiences on the financing of the health systems: “Financement et qualité des services et soins de santé : renforçons ensemble la santé en RDC” (Kinshasa, October 2012).

The DRC working group also aspires to promote the concertation between the Belgian health NGOs, amongst other things through the FABAC Santé (le Forum des Acteurs Belges Actifs en RDC) and tries to develop links between local NGOs and the Belgian cooperation stakeholders.

At the moment, the working group focuses on the follow up of the workshop’s recommendations dedicated to financing the health system in the DRC as well as on the application of the Charter produced by the Human Resources working group in the context of the DRC, and thirdly on the needs of its members for specific discussions or meetings on health topics regarding the country.