Mapping the mineral supply chain and labour market at mining sites in the DRC. Research carried out by Just Results in North and South Kivu on behalf of the PACE consortium highlights safer alternatives to child labour for children and families, and how value chains can be strengthened to reduce and prevent it.

This mineral supply chain mapping and labour market assessment conducted by Just Results on behalf of the PACE consortium covers the two intervention areas of the PACE project in DRC, around Masisi in North Kivu province and Nzibira in South Kivu province.

Findings are based on interviews, surveys, and focus groups with key actors, workers, and children along the mineral supply chain and in the surrounding communities at 16 mining communities surrounding Goma and Bukavu. It presents a broad range of both qualitative and quantitative data on production levels, employment demographics and economic activity both within and around the mines, drawing on data from external sources where necessary to inform the assessment.

The report provides analysis on both the Masisi and Nzibira communities independently, as well as some of the cross-cutting issues faced by both. It assesses the social, political and economic context for the prevalence of the worst forms of child labour, maps the local supply chain of minerals in both provinces and offers an analysis on some of the alternative livelihood options that could help shape pilot interventions in both the mineral supply chains as well as adjacent supply chains of agriculture, commerce and transport.

It reflects on the potential impacts of COVID 19 on these mining communities and concludes with recommendations for the PACE consortium and other actors who aim to prevent and reduce the worst forms of child labour in these regions of DRC or other similarly fragile contexts.