Digital Right: how the DR Congo government tried to promote  people’s access to job offers through an online platform.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the Second Largest country in Africa (2,344,858 Sq. Km). The capital city is Kinshasa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is approximately the size of Western Europe and is the largest country in The Sub-Saharan Region. DRC has been endowed with exceptional natural resources such as minerals, hydropower potential, and immense biodiversity, but unfortunately, most of its population has not benefited from this. History of conflict, political upheaval, and instability have led to a grave ongoing humanitarian crisis.

DRC is ranked among the five poorest nations in the world. In 2022, approximately 62% of Congolese, about 60 million people, lived on less than $2.15. According to the World Bank one out of six people living in extreme poverty in Sup-Sahara Africa lives in DRC.

According to the 2019 report from the International Labor Organization , the congo population is constituted of around 70% of youth. Among these youth, approximately 80% are unemployed.

Concerning internet penetration, in 2021, approximately 23% of Congolese had access to the internet. Among them, only 3% had access to quality internet.

It is this contest that, in the early 2000s, the government decided to establish a labour agency named ONEM (Organisation National de l’Emploi), which was to be in charge of regulating, organizing, and online publishing job opportunities. A website (www.onem.cd) was developed with the assumption that everyone would have the possibility to access it and apply for jobs. Unfortunately, this online platform did not reach its objectives.

Challenges

The idea of having a central place to gather and publish various work opportunities was Bryant, but some issues needed to be addressed before the project could be implemented. We have identified four major ones: 

  1. Internet Access

As mentioned earlier, internet access is still a challenge in the DRC. Generally, it is limited to major towns and cities. However, considering the poverty level, only a few can afford it. In addition, the quality of the internet in most of the locations is very poor.

2. ONEM Website problem

As we are writing this article, the website www.onem.cd is not accessible, but the last time we accessed it (a couple of years ago), we noticed some problems.

  • The website’s presentation did not reflect what a person looking for jobs could expect from it. The information was poorly presented, making it hard to search for jobs. In addition, when we were visiting the website, it had just a dozen jobs posted, which could raise the question of whether those were all the jobs available in the country. Considering that all the organizations (companies) had an obligation to get all the job offers approved by ONEM before they get advertised. This means that ONEM had access to all the job opportunities in the country, but this was not showing on their website.
  • ONEM website offered options for job seekers to create and register their profiles. They could also upload documents. The idea was probably to constitute a database of skills and inform them of the new job openings. Unfortunately, most of the links on the website were not operational. I registered my profile but have to receive an acknowledgment receipt message.
  • Communication issue Only a few people were aware of the existence of the onem.cd website. There could be opportunities on the website, but a few would know.

3. Digital Divide
One of the main issues in DR Congo is the lack of access to the infrastructure, especially in rural areas. Urban areas are more connected than rural areas, leading to a digital divide. In addition, there is also a need for digital skills, particularly for people living in rural areas. Putting in place an online platform for the people was fine, but what was their level of digital literacy? How many had used a computer or the internet? What was the state of IT infrastructure both in urban and rural areas? We believe those are some of the questions the decision-makers should have addressed as they were working on the digital platform for ONEM

Onem.cd is just one of many projects governments in Africa, especially in the central region are trying to implement for digital transformation. Unfortunately, many fail due to poor planning and a lack of deep understanding of the situation. Some key elements, such as the state of the infrastructure or the digital literacy level of the potential beneficiaries, need to be researched and understood before the launch of any digital project.

Digital Hub Africa empowers local communities with essential digital skills, especially in rural areas. We also advocate for their digital right to government in the region.

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