Kasai Province (DRC)
Institutional Module
The Community Trust Index assesses the level of trust in the Red Cross response during the 16th Ebola outbreak in Kasai province, focusing on perceptions of its actions, competencies, and the role of volunteers and staff. The analysis covers the outbreak period from the first recorded case on 20 August 2025 to the last reported case on 19 October 2025, during which 53 confirmed cases, 11 suspected cases, and 45 deaths were reported.
Summary
Strong overall performance, slight values gap: Competencies (9.27) are slightly higher than values (9.08), suggesting solid delivery but room to strengthen trust and perception.
Transparency is the main weakness: At 7.7, it is the lowest score by far, indicating a need for clearer communication and more visible decision-making.
Engagement drives higher scores: People who interact more (feedback, support requests, volunteering) consistently rate services higher, showing engagement is a key perception driver.
Lower scores linked to low engagement and vulnerability: Less engaged groups (no feedback, inactive, some locations like Mweka 1) report lower scores, highlighting the need for targeted outreach.
Sampling
The survey was conducted from 27 February to 13 March 2026 in Kasai province, specifically in the health areas of Bulape and Mbweka (territories of Mweka and Bulape). A total of 1,563 respondents were reached, of whom 1,513 provided complete responses.
A stratified random sampling approach was used to ensure representation across key population groups, including differences in age, gender, education level, and geographic location. Data collection was carried out by Red Cross volunteers as part of efforts to assess community trust during the Ebola response.
See metrics: Metrics
Geographic
The survey sample closely reflects the population distribution across Bulape and Mweka, indicating that the sampling is broadly representative of the target population. Mweka accounts for 58.2% of survey respondents compared with 54.1% of the population, making it slightly overrepresented in the sample. Conversely, Bulape represents 41.8% of respondents versus 45.9% of the population, indicating slight underrepresentation.
Coverage
Gender and Age
The age and sex distribution of the survey sample broadly aligns with the population profile, suggesting that the sample is generally representative across demographic groups. Some differences are evident, with younger adults aged 20–29 slightly underrepresented in both females and males, while males aged 30–49 and 50–59 are somewhat overrepresented in the survey compared to the population. Overall, however, the variations between the sample and population remain relatively small. These small imbalances may require post-stratification adjustment.
Education
Education data is available only for the survey sample, with no comparable population data for validation. Among respondents, the largest proportion reported having completed secondary school (45.7%), followed by university education (21.2%) and primary school education (20.1%). Smaller shares reported no formal education (10.7%) or advanced university-level education (2.2%).
Employment
Employment data is available only for the survey sample, with no corresponding population data available for comparison. Among respondents, unemployment is the most commonly reported status (32.0%), followed by irregular/informal employment (26.5%) and regular/partial employment (19.1%). Smaller proportions reported being not active (17.0%) or students (5.3%). As no comparable population breakdown is available, these results should be interpreted with caution.
Limitations
The data presented in this study should be interpreted with caution due to methodological limitations related to sampling and representativeness.
While the survey broadly reflects the population distribution across Bulape and Mweka, slight imbalances remain:
Mweka is somewhat over-represented in the sample;
Bulape is slightly under-represented.
Minor differences are also observed in the age and sex distribution, including:
Younger adults being slightly under-represented;
Some older male age groups being over-represented compared with population estimates.
No comparable population benchmark data were available for education and employment characteristics, limiting the ability to assess representativeness across these variables.
Although post-stratification adjustments were applied using available demographic variables to improve comparability, these corrections cannot fully eliminate bias introduced by the sampling approach and data limitations.
As a result, the findings should be interpreted as broadly indicative rather than fully representative of the wider population, and caution is advised when generalizing beyond the surveyed sample.
Survey Results
The charts below present the survey answers as percentages, offering visualization of the Community Trust levels by subdimensions. They illustrate the distribution of community’s perceptions of the competencies and values.
Perception of trust
Competencies
Values
Contextual questions
This section presents findings on community members’ experiences with and behaviors toward the Red Cross. These questions explore interactions, perceptions, and engagement patterns, offering insights into how the Red Cross is viewed and utilized within the community.
Experiences
The survey shows that most respondents reported prior engagement with the Red Cross, with the highest proportion having made a donation (41.9%), followed by volunteering (36.9%), receiving aid/support (36.3%), and requesting support (31.7%).
Behaviours
Respondents reported very high levels of positive engagement with Red Cross information and services, with most having followed Red Cross advice in a crisis (97.2%), shared information received with others (94.3%), provided feedback (86.5%), and recommended the organization to people needing support (75.4%).
Intention
Respondents expressed very strong willingness to engage with the Red Cross in the future, with the majority reporting they are very likely to volunteer, recommend services, provide feedback, donate, follow Red Cross advice, share information, and request support, generally ranging between 67% and 80% across all actions.
Score
This score is derived from responses to questions that assess perceptions of competencies and values, providing a comprehensive measure of trust. A higher score indicates stronger trust, suggesting that community members believe their needs are being addressed and their values are respected. Learn more about scoring method: Methods
Overall Score
The following chart presents an analysis of competencies and values, each rated on a scale from 0 to 10, with overall scores indicating very strong perceptions across both dimensions (9.21 for competencies and 8.97 for values). These high ratings should be interpreted within the context of the survey, which was conducted in areas where the Congolese Red Cross provided assistance during the 16th Ebola outbreak response. As many respondents had direct experience with Red Cross support, perceptions may be positively influenced by recent or personal interactions with the organization, which may introduce response bias into the findings.
For competencies, the strongest perceptions are in Relevance (9.44), Responsiveness (9.30), and Capability (9.24), while Effectiveness (9.05) scores the lowest, though all competency ratings remain consistently high.
For values, the highest ratings are for Respectfulness (9.37), Inclusiveness (9.25), and Kindness (9.23), reflecting very positive perceptions across these dimensions. In contrast, Transparency (7.67) receives the lowest score among the values, notably below the other indicators, though it remains positively rated overall.
Overall, the findings suggest that respondents hold highly favorable perceptions of the organization’s competencies and values, with all dimensions scoring above average. However, transparency stands out as the comparatively weakest dimension and may represent a priority area for further improvement.
Learn more about weighting process: Weighting
Score by factors
Perceptions of Red Cross competencies and values are consistently high across all respondent groups, with most scores ranging between 8 and 10 out of 10, indicating broadly positive perceptions overall.
Competency scores are generally slightly higher than value scores across most demographic and geographic categories.
The highest ratings are observed among respondents in Bulape, students, and those with higher education levels, suggesting particularly strong perceptions among these groups.
Comparatively lower scores are reported in certain health areas such as Mweka 1, among respondents not born in DRC, and among individuals with no prior engagement with the Red Cross.
Despite some variation across groups, all scores remain strongly positive, indicating consistently favorable perceptions of the Red Cross across the surveyed population.
Distribution of mean scores for values and competencies per demographic questions
Score by respondent profile
Respondents who have volunteered with the Red Cross or received aid from the Red Cross report consistently higher perceptions of competencies and values than other respondents.
Across all groups, competencies and values are rated highly, with most scores above 8.5, reflecting overall strong perceptions of the organization.
Transparency remains the comparatively lowest-rated value across all respondent groups, despite generally positive scores.
Methods and Metrics
Metrics
Gender
| Gender | Total Respondents | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 653 | 43.2 |
| Male | 857 | 56.7 |
| Other or did not answer | 1 | 0.1 |
| Total | 1511 | 100.0 |
Age
| Age Group | Total Respondents | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 20-29 | 329 | 21.8 |
| 30-39 | 414 | 27.4 |
| 40-49 | 316 | 20.9 |
| 50-59 | 250 | 16.5 |
| 60+ | 202 | 13.4 |
Geographic
| Admin1 | Admin2 | Total Respondents | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulape | Bulape | 172 | 27.2 |
| Bulape | Bambalaie | 99 | 15.7 |
| Bulape | Bulape communautaire | 94 | 14.9 |
| Bulape | Ingongo | 91 | 14.4 |
| Bulape | Dikolo | 83 | 13.1 |
| Bulape | Mpianga | 64 | 10.1 |
| Bulape | Mpatambamba | 28 | 4.4 |
| Bulape | Bupole | 1 | 0.2 |
| Bulape | TOTAL | 632 | 100.0 |
| Mweka | Pilote | 138 | 15.7 |
| Mweka | Mweka 2 | 135 | 15.4 |
| Mweka | Mweka 3 | 133 | 15.1 |
| Mweka | Congo | 130 | 14.8 |
| Mweka | Ikit | 125 | 14.2 |
| Mweka | Lukaka 2 | 120 | 13.7 |
| Mweka | Mweka 1 | 96 | 10.9 |
| Mweka | 0 | 1 | 0.1 |
| Mweka | Tshikuluka | 1 | 0.1 |
| Mweka | TOTAL | 879 | 100.0 |
Relationship with RC
| Profile | Total Respondents |
|---|---|
| Volunteered at Red Cross: Yes | 951 |
| Once beneficiary: Yes | 961 |
Methods
Scoring methodology
To determine the score, we employ the following method:
- Survey Structure The CTI survey includes multiple questions grouped
under sub-dimensions of two main categories:
- Competencies (e.g., reliability, effectiveness, technical proficiency)
- Values (e.g., ethics, integrity, fairness, transparency)
Sub-Dimension Scoring
Each sub-dimension comprises several survey items (questions).Respondents answer on a Likert-type scale (1 to 4 - Don’t not is excluded). For each sub-dimension:
Sub-dimension Score = ∑ (Weighted Response Scores) / Number of Items
If weights are not empirically derived, equal weighting is typically applied to each item.
- Dimension Scoring
Once all sub-dimension scores are calculated, the Competency Score and Values Score are each derived as the arithmetic mean of their respective sub-dimension scores:
Competency Score = ∑(Sub-dimension Scores for Competency) /𝑛
Values Score = ∑(Sub-dimension Scores for Values)/𝑚
where 𝑛 and 𝑚 are the number of sub-dimensions in each category.
Overall Scoring
The final Community Trust Index score is the arithmetic mean of the Competency and Values scores:
- CTI Score = (Competency Score + Values Score)/2
Weighting
Weighting vs. unweighting
To correct demographic deviations from the overall population, we applied a technique called raking. This method adjusts results based on variables such as age, gender, province, education level, and geographic (urban/rural) to align the sample with the population distribution. Data sources included the 2021 Nepal Population and Housing Census (Central Bureau of Statistics, https://censusnepal.cbs.gov.np/Home/Index/EN).
The weighted results are broadly consistent with the unweighted data, showing only small differences across most dimensions. The largest variation appears for openness and transparency, where weighted scores drop more noticeably compared with unweighted results. This suggests that weighting slightly reduces overall averages but does not substantially alter the general trends in competencies and values across respondent groups.
Drivers Correlation
Correlation matrix
Significance testing
Significance testing
When checking for significant differences between the groups we use a t-test to compare means of the competency and value questions, for all the questions, the results are indeed not significant due to the small sample size. The table shows whether a results for beneficiaries, volunteers and others are significantly different form each other. We used a 95% confidence level and corrected the p-values using a multiple comparisons correction.
| Pillar | Drivers | Volunteered at Red Cross: Yes-Once beneficiary: Yes | Volunteered at Red Cross: Yes-Others | Once beneficiary: Yes-Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competency | Capabillity | No | Yes | Yes |
| Competency | Responsiveness | No | No | No |
| Competency | Awareness | No | Yes | Yes |
| Competency | Accessible | No | Yes | Yes |
| Competency | Openness | No | Yes | Yes |
| Competency | Relevance | No | Yes | Yes |
| Competency | Effectiveness | No | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Kindness | No | No | No |
| Value | Fairness | No | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Inclusiveness | No | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Respectfulness | No | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Engagement | No | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Integrity | No | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Transparency | No | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Neutrality | No | Yes | Yes |