Governance of mining resources in Katanga - Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

New forms of dialogue in the mining sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In 2008, the King Baudouin Foundation decided to grant exceptional support to a project to improve governance of mining resources in Katanga (DRC). Initiated and steered by the Alliance for Rebuilding Governance in Africa, the goal of this project is to help construct management policies for the mining sector that better support equity, community development and environmental protection and that reflect the diversity of various interest groups.

The problem of governance of natural resources in the DRC is so complex that efforts to restructure institutions and the economy must be supported by comparable efforts to improve social and political governance as well. Recently, signs have been noted of public and private actors’ willingness to truly take into consideration the issue of governance of the mining sector.

In support of these encouraging signs of change, the project intends to establish mechanisms for cooperation amongst the actors concerned, strengthen civil societies’ and populations’ capacity to negotiate and help coordinate local initiatives. To achieve these goals, three major objectives have been set:

• improve control of the assets of the Katanga mining sector and help communities develop an appropriate planning model for integrated local development;

• test and validate mechanisms for multi-actor cooperation that improve non-State actors’ capacity to coordinate, increase transparency in the mining sector and strengthen capacities for local initiative;

• help improve knowledge and practices in the area of governance of mining resources and test the acceptability of the experimental model on major actors in the mining sector on the local, provincial and national levels (elected officials, governments, mining companies and international institutions).

Two zones for local experimentation have been selected in the Likasi-Kambove zone near the Karajipopo mining site and the Shamitumba site.

View the document Contribution to improvement of the governance of mining resources in Katanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

One part of the project addresses the issues of good governance on the level of the province, in particular with a new Platform for Civil Society Organizations (CSO) in the mining sector of Katanga and a framework for provincial multi-actor/mining dialogue.

Project dates: December 2008 to December 2010. A Lubumbashi-based NGO, SADRI (Service d’Appui au Développement Régional Intégré, or Support service for integrated regional development) is responsible for technical implementation of the project.