This paper examines local perceptions of two international humanitarian organisations, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Malteser International, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (formerly known as Zaire). At times, the self-perception of these organisations differs considerably from the perceptions of local beneficiaries and stakeholders. This study begins by reviewing the current status of research on local perceptions of externally-introduced humanitarian action. It goes on to discuss the local perceptions of the IRC and Malteser International, as well as the origins of these perceptions, and to show that three different narratives are used by local actors to explain their different perceptions. The paper ends with an examination of the factors that help to account for the differences in perceptions and of the implications of this type of research for humanitarian principles and management, as well as for the study of local perceptions.

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This article examines the smuggling of coltan into and out of artisanal mining areas in northern Katanga where the ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi), a policy on conflict minerals, tries to improve transparency in trading tin, tantalum (coltan) and tungsten. The article approaches smuggling from a sociology of economic life perspective, closely examining how and why artisanal miners and mine-based middlemen (négociants) helped smugglers (hiboux) in the trafficking of coltan. The findings indicate that the social networks in which miners and mine-basednégociantsare embedded allow the miners,négociantsand smugglers to maintain close relationships and to breach official regulations, but miners and mine-basednégociantsalso rely on the same networks to cheat in their dealings with the smugglers. This article concludes that, rather than considering coltan mining areas to be ‘enclaves of regulations’, understanding and addressing smuggling at both local and broader contexts call for a comprehensive, more contextualised approach.