The International Work Office has just launched a project to improve the working conditions of miners in the Katangan mines, which aims to reinforce the institutional and human resource capacities in the DRC mining sector. Furthermore, the project will be applied at grassroots level, to encourage the mining industry towards good governance, durable development, respecting workers rights, as well as social dialogue.

This work will be executed in three phases. The conditions of work in the Democratic Republic of Congo are inhuman, where men as well as women and infants work to extract minerals in deep and poorly lit mines without any protection.

Even though there are a lot of fatalities because of poor working conditions, no measures have been taken to improve working conditions in the mines. Even worse, the majority of miners work without any form of contract. Because of all these reasons the International Work Office (IWO) has initiated the project which has four main parts.

The first consists of making a feasibility study of the needs of the target groups in relation to the improvement of working, security and health conditions of artisinal (informal) miners, and to reinforce the capacity of partners (syndicates and others), according to their needs and capacities.

The second part consists of reinforcing social dialogue and worker and employer representation, particularly in the informal sector. A joint tripartite mines committee will be put in place with the aim of institutionalizing social dialogue, both for the formal and informal mining sectors

As well as partnership, the inspection of the mining work will commence and the workers themselves will be trained in mediation and advice techniques with the aim of resolving work conflicts.

The third part concerns the organisation of informal workers into cooperatives. The IWO will support the organization of EMAK (an informal organization for the training of artisinal miners), which has institutional weaknesses, especially a lack of management transparency.

The project also aims to reinforce, in the form of pilot projects, the capacities of cooperative members, to organise and develop productive activities with the aim of creating proper working conditions.

It will also support the reinforcement of a female artisinal cooperative with the same aim.

Finally, there will be sensibilisation campaign at the national and international level with regard to social responsibility in the mining sector, in partnership with "Group One".

This project also aims to enlighten important actors and public opinion on the working conditions in the mines. It will evaluate the impact of the improvement in the working conditions and productivity of the target groups, and will launch a national campaign which will focus on this issue, as well as the economic potential of the mining sector.

Therefore, once the feasibility study has been realised, a network of trainers will be created who will focus on the improvement of working, health, security and environmental conditions in the mines, as well as the productivity and capacities of workers.

The training and a sensibilisation campaign for workers and employers in the sector will focus on the impact of HIV/Aids and the code of conduct of the IWO. The training and sensibilisation classes will be also given to local communities, local authorities, employers and others in need.

They will also be given support in organising a mutual community health insurance fund. After this, they will a sensibilisation campaign on the strategy of promotion of social dialogue, adapted to the particular needs of the mining sector.

This work will succeed in developing a culture of dialogue, with the creation of the tripartite committee in the mining sector and the putting in place of a watchdog project through a pilot provincial committee, under the tutelage of the tripartite commission.