81306175-STE-pool to support organisational change for resource mobilisation in the mining sector in DRC

Background: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has significant mineral reserves and resources. The country is Africa's leading producer of copper and the world's leading producer of cobalt. The DRC furthermore has significant deposits of hydrocarbons (oil, gas), gold, diamonds, 3T minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten), zinc-lead, uranium, iron and manganese. The extractive industry sector has grown significantly over the past 20 years. However, the growth of the min-ing sector has not had the expected effect on the country's economic and social development and has contributed little to reducing poverty among the Congolese population. Socio-economic analyses reveal that the mining industry is not sufficiently integrated into the country's economy. As a result, few opportunities are created for the local workforce and ac-cess to subcontracting remains limited for Congolese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on this observation, and coming from an often opaque and inefficient man-agement, it is necessary to transform to a more transparent and profitable governance system of the state and for all Congolese people, respecting human and labor rights as well as the environment. The revised 2018 Mining Code provides the basic legal framework for such initi-atives and includes improving the professional oversight of the artisanal mining sector. Project Objective: The DISM project aims to support the DRC in taking advantage of the international demand for responsibly extracted raw materials and the resulting high potential to create and increase local value-added supply chains. These objectives are part of the actions and initiatives un-dertaken to significantly reduce poverty in the DRC and support the diversification of the economy, including areas around mining sites, to make the country less dependent on reve-nues from the mining sector. In addition, the project is helping the country to foster sustainable and transparent manage-ment of the sector, promote decent employment, and improve the implementation of social and environmental standards in the mining sector. To achieve these objectives, DISM II focuses on 4 areas of intervention: 1. Transparency and Participation which consists of supporting and strengthening civil so-ciety organizations to participate in decision-making processes regarding economic develop-ment in mining areas and transparency issues in the management of financial flows. Support is provided to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process in the DRC in order to maintain a space for dialogue and ensure the availability of data on financial flows in the sector. 2. Artisanal mining sector of the copper-cobalt belt targets training and support for actors in the artisanal copper-cobalt mining sector in the Haut-Katanga and Lualaba provinces in order to operate in compliance with international norms and standards of the extractive industry. 3. Local subcontracting and professional qualification concerns the strengthening and improvement of the capacities of SMEs in the field of subcontracting in the mining sector, in particular through the creation of information and advisory services for SMEs, support for co-ordination between economic actors and the development of professional trainings (manage-rial skills and training modules adapted to the needs of the industry and the people). 4. Revenue mobilization (co-financed by the EU) to improve the mining sector's contribution to government revenues in a sustainable and transparent manner through information ex-change between the mining administration, financial and tax authorities and the EITI; and through capacity building of the tax administration and civil society. Most of the project's activities are in the provinces of Kinshasa, Haut-Katanga and Lualaba in the South of the DR Congo,with some interventions in North and South Kivu (Dialogue plat-form).