Participation of mining communities in the provision of public goods and services: Evidence from the Basket Fund project in Eastern DRC

Abstract

In 2013, the Community Development “Fund”, commonly known as the “Basket Fund (BF)”, was set up to support the Congolese State in the provision of public goods and services in the province of South Kivu. This BF project prioritises collecting and raising funds from mineral production and trade to finance sustainable projects that can benefit local “communities” needed the participation of the entire mining community for its success. Inspired by the community-driven development approach in the provision of public goods, this empirical work analyses the participation of mining communities in the entire BF implementation process. Specifically, we describe and analyse the BF's governance approach and the role of local communities therein. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews between September 2018 and August 2020 with mining stakeholders and members of mining communities. In addition, we have examined some figures relating to South Kivu's mineral production and videos produced in the framework of the BF's actions. Our results reveal different forms of mining community participation in the BF implementation process, ranging from consultation to monetary, in-kind, or manpower contributions. Based on these findings, we propose recommendations for the new mining policy in the framework of the Mining Fund for Future Generations.