An important moment!
On 6 February 2026, the PROCHE project organised a workshop bringing together researchers, experts and members of civil society to formulate recommendations for the future of institutional provenance research in Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The following day, 7 February, these recommendations were discussed at an open forum attended by institutional partners, the University of Kinshasa and the Institute of National Museums of Congo. This exchange provided an opportunity to present the proposals to the public, gather critical feedback and collectively enrich the discussion.
An important moment! Congolese and Belgian experts presented their recommendations for the future of institutional provenance research at an open forum: ‘The current framework is insufficient.’
After years of consultation between archive research in Belgium and field research in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), researchers, experts and members of civil society shared their conclusions. Provenance research is relevant, but it must not condition or delay restitution. Today, Belgium and the DRC must move forward with concrete actions.
What will be the role of the AfricaMuseum? With whom should the future of this heritage be built? When will restitution take place? These questions were at the heart of the debates during the open forum organised on 7 February in Tervuren, attended by institutional partners the University of Kinshasa and the Institute of National Museums of Congo, and PROCHE project collaborators.
In the morning, provenance researchers Rodrigue Rutebuka, Béatrice Beya Obonga, Salomon Tholase Kyoambutu, Tshibangu Tshiapota and Raphaël Galume Gawaya presented their field research in the DRC during meetings with the public in the AfricaMuseum's exhibition rooms. In the afternoon, Professor Placide Mumbembele, archivist Bérengère Piret, national administrator of the Culture programme for UNESCO in Kinshasa Augustin Bikale and PhD student in history and linguistics Pauline Malenga Mwanga engaged in dialogue with the audience on four key issues relating to institutional provenance research.
The main recommendations were:
Unrestricted physical and digital access to colonial archives, which are shared heritage between the two countries.
Sustainable institutional partnerships between Belgium and the DRC, with balanced funding and guaranteed mobility for researchers, to reduce power asymmetries.
Rethinking the legal framework: a logic of historical justice must replace the current approach based on documentary evidence.
Including civil society and citizens as stakeholders from the outset of the research, to broaden the notion of expertise and integrate endogenous knowledge.
You can consult all the recommendations drawn up by the expert groups here (PDF).
The PROCHE team would like to thank all the researchers present, as well as the University of Kinshasa, the Institute of National Museums, the spokesperson for the Restitution Commission, the experts from the diaspora, the PROCHE project monitoring committee and the State Archives for their valuable collaboration in drafting the recommendations.
The PROCHE project (Recherches de PROvenance sur la Collection ethnographique - Herkomstonderzoek op de Ethografische collectie) is a federal scientific policy programme implemented by the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Thanks to this project, a database of 80,000 objects is now available online. The researchers worked in a complementary manner. Belgian and Congolese researchers mapped the traceability of objects through archival research in Belgium. The latter also conducted field surveys within the source communities on a few objects they selected from the collections held by the AfricaMuseum.
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