The population of Beni Territory has been victim of deadly violence since 2014, following the presence of national and foreign armed groups such as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebellion and Mai Mai groups. The stabilisation project ‘Ensemble pour Beni’ aims to address insecurity and promote stability in the territory through a variety of initiatives, including a pillar focusing on ‘relaunching the local economy’.
Within the framework of ‘Ensemble pour Beni’, CEGEMI , IPIS, ASADHO and ASSODIP are supporting 14 cooperatives, to promote responsible gold trade. Mining cooperatives are a key actor in eastern DRC’s mineral supply chain, as they organise miners and mineral production, and they are the first actor in the mineral supply chain.
IPIS, ASADHO and ASSODIP’s baseline study on artisanal mining in Beni territory already identified the mining cooperatives, as well as the challenges they face. In reality, most cooperatives lack effective control over their mining sites, often due to insecurity. Almost none of the cooperatives has been officially registered, and they lack the knowledge to apply for an official artisanal mining zone (‘Zone d’exploitation artisanale’). Furthermore, most cooperatives lack legitimacy among miners, struggle with participation of women, do not respect cooperative law, and lack technical knowledge on mining governance, responsible gold trade and administrative management.
IPIS, ASADHO and ASSODIP have partnered with CEGEMI to organize trainings and workshops for 14 mining cooperatives in the second half of 2020.
CEGEMI is working with these cooperatives on the cooperative law, legal framework, governance, due diligence and responsible gold trade.
From October 12 to 16, in Cantine, CEGEMI trained more than 50 representatives of the mining cooperatives on the legal framework for cooperatives. Over the next three weeks, CEGEMI is supporting each cooperative individually to draft its statutes and to apply for an official registration with the DRC government.
From November 11 to 15, CEGEMI will organize another training for these cooperatives, in collaboration with the state service SAEMAPE, to promote due diligence and transparency along the gold supply chain. ASADHO and ASSODIP will promote the incident reporting system ‘Kufatilia’ for the cooperatives.
