Blogs
FCA Quarterly – Q1 2023
In the first quarter of 2023, the FCA continued to make progress in its efforts to support the transformation of the artisanal cobalt sector in the DR Congo. A few changes were made in our Kolwezi office. The FCA has welcomed a new country director after the departure of Steve Brewster. Antoine Kasongo (pictured below) […]
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How to provide access to healthcare to artisanal cobalt miners in the DR Congo
In this guest blog post, Dr. Julius Emmrich, co-founder of Elucid Social, shares Elucid’s work on reducing financial barriers to healthcare in agri supply chains and the replication of this approach to the artisanal mining sector in the DR Congo. Access to healthcare is a human right. In sub-Saharan Africa, where less than 10% […]
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Establishing fair trading practices at artisanal cobalt mine sites
One of the Fair Cobalt Alliance’s three strategic objectives is increasing the incomes of artisanal miners and their wider community. Key to that strategy is ensuring fair value retention at the point of mineral sales.
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VSLAs – building peer-to-peer networks to strengthen financial resilience
VSLAs: What are they? Voluntary Savings and Loans Associations Reason for creation? Despite the increased income of artisanal miners compared to their peers in sectors such as agriculture, they are still poverty-stricken due to the mismanagement of their resources and the lack of financial education. Voluntary Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are designed to support […]
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Child Labour Remediation Hub for the DRC’s Mining Sector
This is an excerpt from the FCA 2022 Annual Impact and Finance Report authored by Ines Kaempfer, CEO of The Centre for Child Rights and Business, on the support provided to children working at mine sites, in collaboration with local organisations, to provide them with a path away from mining. The Child Labour Remediation […]
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Publishing FCA Annual Report 2022
In our commitment to stay transparent about our work in the DR Congo, we are proud to publish the 2022 impact and financial report available here. Starting with a foreword (below) from the former Chairwoman of the Steering Committee, Angela Jorns and the Executive Director of the FCA, Assheton Stewart Carter, the annual report has, […]
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2023 – The year of critical minerals
Critical minerals – critical to what? EU and US ambitions to reach net-zero or DR Congo’s long-term prosperity; they could mean the same – but do they? With the war raging in Eastern Europe, Europe’s reliance on Russian gas is more apparent than ever as average consumers and companies face skyrocketing gas prices. This has […]
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Connectivity Today And My Journey To The Beginning Of The Cobalt Supply Chain
My name is Andrina Beaumond and in early November 2022, I joined the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA) as Senior Stakeholder Engagement and Programme Manager. On my very first day in my new role, I took part in a week-long delegation visit to Kolwezi, in the DR Congo. A week that turned out to be an […]
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