Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) in the DRC: Midline results of a pilot study in an artisanal mining zone in Maniema province
June 19, 2023In October 2021, the Belgian non-profit organization Eight World, started a pilot project of Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) in a village in an artisanal mining zone in the territory of Pangi, in Maniema Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Eight World transfers cash directly to individual beneficiaries via a mobile money system. Each adult living in the UCT village receives 20
Taxes and levies in the artisanal mining sites of South Kivu and Ituri: How much does an artisanal miner pay?
April 14, 2023This report is the result of a large-scale field study on taxation in the artisanal mining sector in the eastern Congolese provinces of Ituri and South Kivu. The main finding is that current regulations and practices in the field not only cause mineral smuggling, which leaves some of the sector’s fiscal potential untapped at the provincial and national levels, but also constitute a source of insec
Analysis of the interactive map of artisanal mining areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – 2022 update
November 29, 2022In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector plays an important role in the local economy. While large-scale armed conflict over DRC’s mineral wealth has decreased significantly over the past twenty years, armed actors continuously interfere in the mining sector, and conflicts over resources at the local level are still common. Based on new minin
Responsible mining scorecard in eastern DRC
August 31, 2022Over the years, IPIS has systematically collected mine site and trade hub level data on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in eastern DRC. This data collection has enabled IPIS to generate a sizable database of more than 3,000 ASM sites that draws both on sites visited by IPIS and data from third party sources including the Congolese mining cadastre and the Mini
Unconditional cash transfers in the DRC: A comparative baseline study in an artisanal mining zone in Maniema Province
March 1, 2022A controlled impact study will be conducted by IPIS to evaluate the net effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) on the socio-economic well-being of recipients. A controlled study approach allows potential effects of the intervention to be assessed by monitoring specific indicators in the group of people receiving cash transfers (inhabitants of the UCT village), in comparison with a comparabl
Checkpoint economy: the political economy of checkpoints in South Sudan, ten years after independence
December 10, 2021Ten years after independence, the world’s youngest country is home to an entrenched political economy of conflict premised on checkpoint taxation. Humanitarian aid is not exempt, reveals a major new mapping report by DIIS and IPIS. When South Sudan became independent ten years ago, oil revenues were supposed to fuel the economy of the world’s newest country. But two years later in 2013, oil prices
Belgium’s fight against conflict diamonds: an assessment of the country’s diamond sector controls from a global perspective
May 31, 2021In its new report, IPIS assesses Belgium’s fight against conflict diamonds. The report focusses on the Belgian city of Antwerp, which has played a central role in the global diamond trade for centuries. Yet as the world’s diamond hub, Antwerp not only attracted the best but also the worst of this diverse industry. In no uncertain terms, a series of UN and NGO reports linking Antwerp to bloody civi
IPIS Insights -The artisanal and small scale mining sector in eastern DRC six months after the Covid-19 outbreak
April 19, 2021In April 2020, when the Coronavirus spread around the world, IPIS started monitoring the impact of the pandemic on the production and trade of the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). IPIS published a report in October 2020 that discussed the results of several rounds of consultations with ASM stakeholders at nearly 90 Tin, Tantalum, Tung
The Impact of Covid-19 on artisanal mining in Western Central African Republic
January 21, 2021To assess the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector in Western Central African Republic (CAR), IPIS conducted a series of phone surveys with key informants located on 260 gold and diamond mining sites. The Covid-19 pandemic has been particularly harsh on the artisanal mining sector in Western CAR, emphasizing existing trends since the 2
The impact of Covid-19 on artisanal mines in western CAR
October 16, 2020To assess the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the artisanal and small-scale sector in the Central African Republic, IPIS conducted a series of phone interviews targeting key informants to collect information on minerals production, prices and illegal taxation on gold and diamond artisanal mining sites in western CAR.
The impact of Covid-19 on the artisanal mining sector in eastern DRC
October 14, 2020As Covid-19 spreads around the world, artisanal mining communities experience once more how much their livelihoods depend on the global economy. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, IPIS has closely monitored its impact on 3T, gold and diamond mining and trade in the DRC.
