Groundbreaking multi-stakeholder initiative to address child labour in DRC mining communities

KINSHASA, 16 November 2020 –The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Global Battery Alliance (GBA), is aiming to raise US$ 21 million from public and private partners over the next three years to fund a series of initiatives aimed at addressing the root causes of child labour in mining communities.

The Fund for the Prevention of Child Labour in Mining Communities - A Global Battery Alliance Collaboration will be exclusively administered and programmed by UNICEF and will be implemented in cooperation with government and civil society organizations in the DRC. Activities to prevent and reduce child labour in mining will focus on mining communities in DRC’s copper belt in the Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces.

The initiative is fully aligned with the DRC’s national development priorities and supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Fund will support government and civil society-led initiatives to strengthen local social services, including education, healthcare and birth registration. It will also strengthen social workers’ capacities to prevent, identify and respond to children who are negatively affected by mining operations and will support better social protection systems in mining communities.

Tackling issues that impact children and their families in the battery supply chain is a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral effort. Achieving these results for children will require support and commitment from all stakeholders across the cobalt supply chain.