POVERTY ALLEVIATION: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC APPROACHES TO RESOURCEFULNESS AND SURVIVAL IN KINSHASA

Authors: Kalokola Yangonde Julien, Mavita Tseki Errol, Kamasukako Buka Kams, Mukala Bobo Meschac & Olomwene Omo Lucide

ABSTRACT

This article examines survival mechanisms in the face of extreme urban poverty in Kinshasa, combining psychological and socio-economic approaches. From a psychological perspective, poverty generates a logic of survival characterized by resignation, external attribution of the causes of misery (to the state and the political class), an inferiority complex, and passive hope in a savior figure.

From a socio-economic viewpoint, the persistent imbalance between explosive demographic growth (Kinshasa has approximately 18 million inhabitants) and weak economic growth perpetuates massive unemployment, contraction of the formal sector, and increasing reliance on the informal economy.

The article highlights that “débrouillardise” (symbolized by the popular expression “Article 15”) has become the dominant adaptive strategy, enabling pragmatic individual survival but at the cost of eroding collective norms and limiting mobilization for structural change. The prolonged failure of the state in fulfilling its core missions (job creation, wealth redistribution, regulation) fuels this vicious cycle.

Consequently, combating poverty in Kinshasa requires moving beyond rhetoric to implement concrete, planned, and inclusive measures capable of transforming individual resilience into sustainable collective progress.

Keywords: urban poverty, débrouillardise, Article 15, hyper-religiosity, informal economy, state failure, resilience, DRC.

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