; (A) placing the country on a trajectory toward ending the need for foreign assistance; and (2) evaluating the comparative merits of grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and other methods for providing foreign assistance. (c) Sense of Congress on support for democratic governance and conflict mitigation mechanisms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development should— (1) continue to— (A) support long-term peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by strengthening democratic institutions and promoting respect for the rule of law at the national, provincial, and local levels; (B) support the capacity of civil society actors to promote transparency, accountability, freedom of expression, and anti-corruption efforts; (C) support conflict prevention and mitigation activities where appropriate, particularly in the Kasai region of the Tanganyika Province, the North and South Kivu Provinces, and the Ituri Province; and (D) work to address the root causes of chronic violence and fragility, with a focus on youth empowerment, education, and the promotion of justice and accountability mechanisms; and (2) seek to work directly with and through credible, independent, nongovernmental organizations, including local partners, human rights organizations, women-led organizations, and faith-based or non-faith-based organizations, to— (A) defend internationally recognized dem­o­crat­ic rights; (B) support freedom of expression, including through media broadcasting; (C) combat public corruption