Congo’s Kasaï Provinces: Water and Health Centres Rewrite Daily Life

Thursday, 18th September 2025.

by inAfrika Reporter

For decades, daily life in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasaï region meant hard choices. Drinking water came from contaminated streams. Health centres were mud huts with leaking roofs. Children studied in dim classrooms, when they studied at all. Today, that reality is being rewritten—tap by tap, brick by brick.

In Tshilenge, eastern Kasaï, the memory still stings. “We used to drink water that was full of germs, which caused a lot of suffering for all of us,” recalls Papa Mutombo Tambwe. He now points proudly to the clean water supply running through his community. Access to safe water was the first domino. Families who once walked kilometres to fetch dirty water now fill buckets from taps near their homes. “Tap water is very different from water from the forest. It is nearby, clean, and we are relieved,” says Ntshila Muswamba, a mother in Mikalayi, Central Kasaï.

In nearby Tshibumba, villagers once queued at a fragile hut made of earth and straw. “Our health centre was just a small building… but we had no choice,” says local resident Mulanga Ntambwe. Today, she stands at the entrance of a new, fully equipped clinic. “It is clean and welcoming. We come here with confidence because it now gives us the chance to live healthier lives.” Basic care that once required dangerous journeys over broken roads in Tshikapa is now accessible close to home. For mothers, this shift means safer births, quicker treatment, and hope restored.

This transformation traces back to 2013, when the Project for the Reinforcement of Socioeconomic Infrastructure (PRISE) launched with African Development Fund support. The first phase invested $161.46 million, building 60 schools, 60 health centres, 504 latrines, and 60 drinking water systems across Tshikapa, Mbuji-Mayi, and five rural provinces. For thousands of families, this was their first experience of dignity in public services: children studying in bright classrooms, patients treated in hygienic clinics, and water arriving without fear of disease. Even public transport followed—buses came to Tshibumba only after the project broke ground.

Encouraged by the impact, the Congolese government and the African Development Bank Group expanded the vision. PRISE II, now under way with $69.74 million (95% from the African Development Fund), is pushing the progress across the three Kasaï provinces—home to over eight million people, around 12% of the DRC population. So far, 22 new water systems, 41 schools, 40 health centres, and 88 latrines are being completed. Nearly 75% of the work is done. Water now flows into homes. Children walk to school with notebooks, not fear. Local health workers treat patients in modern rooms.

PRISE has also ignited local economies. Over 2,200 permanent jobs have been created—two-thirds held by women. Young people are training as plumbers, communities are forming water management committees, and households are adopting new hygiene habits. In an era of climate stress, these gains in resilience may prove as valuable as the infrastructure itself.

What is unfolding in the Kasaïs is more than an engineering project—it is a social covenant. Each new tap, classroom and clinic stands as evidence that development can be inclusive, sustainable, and deeply human. As Ms. Ntambwe puts it: “We come here with confidence.” That confidence is becoming the foundation of a new Kasaï—and a new DRC—where families live not in survival, but in dignity and hope.