Capacity building for responsible mineral trade – Gold in South Kivu, DR Congo

With the support of the USAID program Capacity Building for Responsible Minerals Trade, IPIS developed and implemented a methodology aimed at assessing the responsible sourcing potential of gold mining areas in South-Kivu.

IPIS conducted field missions in seven gold trading hubs and their surrounding mines in South-Kivu: Shabunda centre (Shabunda territory), Katchungu (Shabunda territory), Mapimo (Shabunda territory), Matili (Shabunda territory), Kaziba (Walungu Territory), Mukera (Fizi territory), and Nyawaronga (Kalehe territory).

In each of the hubs, IPIS collected quantitative and qualitative data on nine conditions impacting on the hubs’ potential for responsible sourcing: security, accessibility, mining sites status, production, the presence of cooperatives, the behaviour of local authorities, the presence of civil society, health and safety and the organisation of the gold trade.

The objective of the assessment reports is to assist stakeholders in their evaluation of the responsible sourcing potential of each of these hubs. The reports scrutinises the strengths, challenges and opportunities of each hub and the mining sites supplying them. This cross-case analysis compares the overall potential of all seven hubs, thereby identifying important differences, trends and challenges.