IIt's already dusk Annie Sinanduku Mwange She stepped out of the motorcycle taxi that took her through the rainforest to the small mining town of Cairo. It's an tiring four-hour drive from Kindu, the provincial capital of Maniema, but she must first pay tribute to the town mayor, police chief and other officials before resting. Mwange knows his ability to do his job depends on continuing to reassure those in charge of their importance.
In the courtyard of the guesthouse where she was staying, the women who had come to meet her were waiting, drinking tea, and reporting on the happenings in town. Night fell when Mwange finally sat down with them. The women get to work. It's time to get organized.
Mwange is at the helm of a national network of women working in artisanal mining, aiming to revolutionize the sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But we need support and funding to achieve our vision of uplifting mining communities through gender equality and women-led business.
as president of National Network for Women in Mining (Renafem)Over the years, Mwange has built a movement across the mineral-rich Central African nation's 26 provinces, uniting women's organizations under one banner and reaching millions of people. He has fought for rights in areas on which people depend for a living.
“All programs and initiatives to reform the artisanal mining sector have focused on men,” Mwange says. “Women are systematically underrepresented and ignored, including by international organizations. We believe that women's empowerment is key to transforming this sector and ensuring it benefits local communities.” .”
The women in the courtyard nodded in agreement. A few years ago, Cairo began piloting an education and training program in dozens of mining towns where Mwange's civil society organization Assefa piloted an education and training program that was helping to both change gender dynamics and improve health and safety around mines. That was one.
“Practical matters such as building toilets near the site remind us that under the law women have the same right to access mining sites as men, and that sexual harassment of women working on the site is a crime. It ranged from informing men,” says Bertha Bangara. , a 36-year-old miner.
The training has been well received by the community, including men, with women reporting a decrease in sexual harassment, saying they feel more empowered to stand up to men and feel supported by other members of the community.
But something else is also at work. “Now,” Bangara says, “now is the time. just a boss” The rise of the “mother boss” is one of the most potentially transformative concepts that Mwange and her organization are popularizing. Although women working in mines are not uncommon, most do not have the physical strength to produce large quantities of minerals such as cassiterite, coltan, and tantalum. “I can find 1kg a day, maybe 2kg, but men gain 5-10kg,” says Bangara.
As a result, women were relegated to peripheral jobs such as transporting and cleaning mineral sand, and became dependent on male miners for work and payment. “If women have to ask men for mineral sand, they can be sexually exploited,” Bangara explains. “But if I own a mine and I hire employees, now I'm their boss. They can't tell me.”Mavra” [undress] Because they're counting on me. ”
Bangara and other women in Cairo started their businesses with loans from neighbors and family members. Currently, 56 of her 250 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are just her bosses.
These loans come with high interest rates, so Mwange's plans include forming cooperatives to pool resources and creating more formal structures to attract investors. include.
At the quarry, Bangara, a mother of eight, supervises a group of young men wielding shovels. “It makes no difference to me,” says one miner of being under the authority of a woman. “I'm getting paid, that's all that matters.”
Mwange says this is what happens to women. boss Beneficial for everyone. “When we work with women, we are addressing issues that concern the entire community,” she says.
Women make up 50% of the 2 million-strong miners and are often the main breadwinners in their households, responsible for their children's education, and the health and well-being of their families. “When mothers are unwell or financially stable, children are affected too, so we are talking about making sure that generations to come have a good start in life. ” says Mwange.
Her vocation as an activist is rooted in the aftermath of the Second Congo War, which ravaged the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1998 to 2002, and the plundering of Congo's “conflict minerals” resources by Rwandan and Ugandan armies and local militias. has been seen and is helping to promote activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. war effort. Although minerals are no longer a source of funding for a large military in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, artisanal mining remains marred by violence, exploitation, child labor, and poor working conditions.
Demand for cobalt, used in electric vehicle batteries, has once again put the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining industry in the spotlight. The country produces nearly half of the minerals needed for “clean energy” technologies, and the World Bank estimates that demand for these minerals will continue to grow. Grow 500% by 2050. The mining sector, at both the artisanal and corporate scales, faces a myriad of interconnected issues, making it the future of the DRC.
While setting up a program for orphans in Cairo in 2010, Mwange realized how intertwined mining was with the lives of local communities. “When we went to school, there were not as many students as there should have been. The directors told us that many children were working at the mine site,” she recalls. .
Initially, she tried to persuade children and their parents to return to school. “But they said their children have to work to support their families. If they stop working, their families won't be able to eat.” Her parents, who fell into poverty, could not pay school fees. .
Impact, a natural resource governance nonprofit, recently published report It has reached the same conclusion as Mwange's organization. In other words, improving women's livelihoods is the key to eliminating child labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Single mothers, in particular, are struggling to make ends meet, and often send their eldest sons to mines or work alongside them to supplement the family's income.
With support from the Harvard University Humanitarian Initiative and funding from USAid, Mwange's organization led a large-scale study across three provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to gather detailed information about the needs of mining communities. “Some of their requests were obvious, like access to affordable safety equipment. But we also wanted to rewild abandoned mines and avoid polluting local rivers. We also talked about putting protocols in place for this,” Mwange said.
Her organization is currently negotiating with USAid for a budget to launch a second phase that will provide the equipment, investment and support the community is asking for.
But more needs to be done for Mwange to expand her project, and women's rights are often perceived as a peripheral issue to more “serious” male-centered issues. “It was difficult to explain to donors why women could be at the center of other issues they were trying to address,” said Jocelyn Kelly, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which has championed Mwange. talk. “Donors are afraid to fund grassroots organizations,” she added.
just a boss A plan is not a silver bullet, but a roadmap for your efforts and investments. On his last day in Cairo, Mwange is in the guesthouse courtyard for a final meeting. Therese Boquera, 50, and Antoinette Malonga, 48, are particularly vocal about the need for resources.
“It requires investment,” Boquera said. She owns her three mines, but she is facing financing problems because the wells are not producing as much as expected. Access to credit is a challenge for artisan communities across the country, but it is particularly difficult for women, who can be held back and pushed further into poverty when their businesses face difficulties.
Mwange says his eyesight will soon become independent, but he needs a kickstart. “Our community-based approach is powerful because it puts people in charge and holds them accountable for their actions.
“When the community takes ownership, it doesn’t require a lot of effort,” she says. “People feel noticed and want to show what they're capable of.”
