Pact's youth apprenticeship program in Kolwezi, DRC

Since 2017, Pact has assisted 209 young artisanal miners (YAMers), from 15 to 17 years old, to thrive in an alternative trades to mining. According to the latest UNICEF estimate, roughly 40,000 young boys and girls are used for
dangerous mining activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In Lualaba province, these children are primarily extracting cobalt, a mineral used in virtually all batteries in common devices, including cellphones, laptops and electric vehicles. The arduous labor of mining cobalt by hand is physically ruinous for children, and the risk of accidents and even death from landslides is ever present. As work which is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children, children in mining constitutes one of the worst forms of child labor, and Pact is committed to ending it.

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