RESILIENCE &
FRAGILITY
IN ACTION

[Brief en français] This two-page brief provides an overview of the history of police reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It sheds light on the everyday experiences of reformed police officers and their interactions with the population, drawing out key lessons for reform practitioners and outlining avenues for reflection on the future of police reform in a context shaped by war and military occupation.

This two-page brief summarises the key points discussed during the ReFrACT Café, “Gender Backlash and Rising Authoritarianism in Fragile Contexts”, along with the main recommendations shared during the session. It captures collective insights and serves as a practical reference for anyone interested in the topics explored.

Gender backlash is a function and facilitator of authoritarian politics, emerging from and exacerbated by perceived or actual crises. Reflecting context-specific social and political dynamics, gender backlash takes a myriad of forms, from overt oppression of women and LGBTQIA+ communities, to strategic genderwashing and cooptation.

Since 2012, the Sahel has been at the center of a regional conflict characterized by the failure of international interventions and "stabilization" practices. Largely driven by imaginaries of state reconstruction and counterterrorism, these policies have ultimately accompanied local dynamics of violence and political polarization.