ABSTRACT
The South-Kivu province, located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has not been spared by the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of March 2022, South Kivu had registered 1682 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Different response measures had been used to maintain the disease. The effects of the response measures had worsened the state of poverty and vulnerability among the population. This study aimed to assess the results of the COVID-19 pandemic on the subjective well-being of South-Kivu households and the impact of resilience strategies on the well-being of these households. The data were collected thrice in 474 households, from August 2020 to February 2021, and analyzed using the structural equations model. We found that 85% of households lost their purchasing capacity, 98% were afraid of being infected with COVID-19 and 54% complied with health measures. The results showed that the resilience strategies adopted by families had increased their subjective well-being. In general, during the third round, the health (84%), socioeconomic (97%) and psychological (97%) dimensions of resilience had a positive impact (68%) on the subjective well-being of South-Kivu households. This study suggests that, in addition to the adaptive resilience strategies developed by families, there is a need to develop proactive and early warning measures for unforeseen pandemics that could lead to health crises.