In Congo, some 40,000 children work in the cobalt mines*.
Thanks to Good Shepherd Kolwezi program 1,600+ children have quit the mines to attend school.
*Unicef 2014 estimate
Help children get out of the mines
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Maisha: A New Life Outside the Mines
The Good Shepherd International Foundation produced the film ‘Maisha: A New Life Outside the Mines’ documenting the living conditions of the artisanal mining community in Kolwezi and the impact that this community development project is having. The film is currently available online and was shown at more than 10 film festivals and screenings throughout the world. It was awarded numerous honors, including Best Documentary Short Filmat the 12th Human Rights Film Festival of Barcelona and Best Ethnografic Filmat the Vaasa Festival 2016.


The Slaves of the Digital Mines
DRC’s incredible mining industry is worth an outstanding $24 billion. The raw materials that fuel our digital age, our PCs and smartphones, are extracted from these mines: cobalt, copper, tantalum. But the living conditions of the people living in the largest copper and cobalt mining area in the country are among the worst in the world. Women, girls and children are forced to live and work in the so-called “artisanal” mines in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. They work for less than a dollar a day without any right to health care or education.
A Community Development Program
In 2012, Good Shepherd Sisters (GSS) established programs in Kolwezi to assist these vulnerable groups, specifically in the artisanal mining communities (ASM) of Domaine Marial, an isolated, impoverished and underserved mining area around the city of Kolwezi. With this program we work to:
Strengthen child protection systems and improve the provision of basic services for children
Guarantee food security and income to families
Decrease gender-based discrimination and violence
Enhance cohesive citizenship within the artisanal mining community to lobby the Government for an equitable distribution of resources and to increase the accountability of the mining companies involved in the copper-cobalt supply chain
RESULTS
+ 0
children are protected, nourished and educated
0
%
of children enrolled in education project quit the mines
0
children reintegrated into the formal school system
+ 0
children vaccinated
0
women and girls gained skills for alternative livelihood and improve their income
0
%
of people in the Maisha Farm Coop have improved food security
0
%
of women no longer work in the mines
Discover the activities of the project
Media
A CBS News Investigation finds children mining cobalt in DR Congo
CBS reports on a life-changing to Ziki’s story, thanks to GS program
CNN discovers child labor in cobalt trade in DR Congo
Resources
“Weaving the Web” - The GSS approach to Community-Based Development and Child Protection in Kolwezi, report by M. Canavera CPC Columbia University
Bon Pasteur Kolwezi Theory of Change Strategic Plan 2018-2022
GSS Research on Violence and Abuse against Women, Girls and Children in Artisanal Mining Communities of the DRC
Help children get out of the mines
Your donation is an opportunity to greatly improve the lives of hundreds of children, women and their families
Support our projects in DR Congo
Select or fill in the amount of your donation
“It’s no fun going into the mine. But that work is finished for me now! Now I study. Now, I’m doing well. At school I learned that children have rights and that all children are born equal.”
Morgan, 8-years-old
Child Protection Program
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