In July 2021, ITSCI DRC Programme Manager (PM) Vincent Gbolo Songe travelled throughout Maniema Province to conduct special training sessions with CPP and CLS members, accompanied by the provincial PM Alpy Songoli. The CPP and CLS are provincial and local multistakeholder committees, respectively, that are vital tools for empowering local governance of the mining sector and a central part of the ITSCI programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Due to considerable political instability in Kindu since 2019, the CPP had not convened to bring together provincial leaders in the mining sector. For the same reason, formalisation of communication and problem-solving links between the local and provincial level committees was delayed at the ministerial level. The training that ITSCI conducted in July in Kindu, Kalima, Punia, Lubutu, and Kasese brought together 263 participants from SAEMAPE, Divimines, the CEEC, cooperatives, processor/exporters, and civil society as members of the committees.

To reinvigorate the CPP, ITSCI highlighted the importance of the forum, and members resolved that a risk analysis matrix for each area of Maniema where mining activities occur should be developed in line with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance. The session in Lubutu highlighted the role the CLS can play in combatting mineral fraud and ensuring only the mandated state services are involved in the mining sector and at artisanal mine sites. In Kalima, participants praised the regularity with which the CLS meets as an indicator of local ownership of due diligence and risk mitigation efforts, in line with international and national standards.

Such training and the exchanges they encourage underscore the importance of multistakeholder engagement along the supply chain, and the strides made toward that end through the CLS and CPP that ITSCI facilitates.

Participants at the CLS training in Punia town, 20th July 2021