FCA member since September 2020
Located in Lubumbashi, DRCongo, the Arrupe Centre for Research and Training, CARF, is a non-profit organization of the Jesuit Fathers of the Central African Province, founded in 2013. Its creation was motivated by the long experience of the Research Centre for Social Action (CEPAS) in Kinshasa. CARF has three departments:
- the research department for social action. It comprises the Faith and Justice, Peace and Reconciliation sector, the Natural Resources Governance sector, and the Development Support sector;
- the documentation department, subdivided into the Multidisciplinary Library, the Online Research Service and the Media Library
- the training and animation department.
Since its beginnings, CARF has focused on the economic development of Katanga, one of the richest provinces of the DRC, by promoting the governance of natural resources through research, conferences, seminars and publications. CARF has a well-developed connection to Cobalt related issues in the provinces of Haut-Katanga and Lualaba through the implementation of programs designed to support artisanal miners in cooperatives, to monitor and promote human rights and CSR implementation (through the Mine Alert digital mechanism), and to promote dialogue between stakeholders, as well as advocacy efforts since 2015. Moreover, CARF’s presence in cobalt mining sites is also strengthened by these actions of accompanying the actors involved in the exploitation and commercialization chain, to the establishment of a peaceful management and resolution mechanism of social conflicts related to this strategic mineral, thus making it conflict-free. All these actions are generally supported by the results of research carried out beforehand and published to facilitate access of all to information relating to the exploitation and commercialization chain of cobalt.
“CARF’s decision to endorse the Fair Cobalt Alliance was made after an assessment of its objectives. By their nature, these objectives are consistent with those already pursued by CARF through its various projects and its overall vision of achieving responsible cobalt mining, free of social conflict and whose benefits are equitably shared all the way downstream.”
Nyembo Ngoy Jean
General Director
[email protected]