Become a European Solidarity Corps Volunteer

ESC Volunteer Vacancies 2021 – Changemaker for a Wellbeing Economy

ESC Volunteer Vacancies 2021

Changemaker for a Wellbeing Economy

Education & Movement

Communication & Campaigns

CATAPA

CATAPA is a volunteer movement which strives for a world in which the extraction of non-renewable resources is no longer necessary. The extraction of such materials always entails major social and environmental impacts and fuels conflict. In working towards global social and environmental justice, we focus on mining issues (ecological disasters, human rights violations, etc.) in Latin America, where we support local communities in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia who are threatened by large-scale mining projects.

Our main activities are:

  • Internationalisation of the struggle of our partners in Latin-America and capacity building
  • Raising awareness on the impact of metal consumption amongst Belgian population
  • Creating a movement for sustainable consumption and production
  • Networking and research

CATAPA is a grassroots movement, which means that we are mostly dependent on the work of our volunteers – the Catapistas. As a grassroots movement, we also work together with other grassroots movements in our partner countries.

The Need for a Wellbeing Economy

Mining activities cause devastating environmental impacts and human rights violations across the globe. CATAPA’s main objective is to strive towards a world where mining is no longer necessary. Besides that, we urgently need to rethink our consumer society and the linear way we use metals. For this we need a redesign of our economy, we need an economy that focuses on the ‘wellbeing’  of people instead of economic growth and welfare. One of the means to reach this Wellbeing Economy is thinking of ways to make this economy just and circular. Only with a circular use of metals and a radical rethinking of our economic system and society, we will be able to counteract the destruction of ecosystems, social inequality and unbridled consumerism.

Catapa is going to work on the topic of Wellbeing Economy through:

  • Raising awareness of the broader public: (social media) campaigns, educational activities, public actions …
  • Searching and supporting solutions & alternatives 
  • Collaboration & networking with other organisations that focus on mining issues, Degrowth, Circular & Wellbeing Economy 
  • Collaboration with grassroot organisations in Latin America, defending the rights of communities affected by mining.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for an ESC (European Solidarity Corps) volunteer to support the CATAPA movement, and in particular the campaigns on Circular Economy & Wellbeing Economy. The volunteer will be trained to think critically and spread knowledge of these issues and to encourage other young people to become active EU citizens. The tasks are flexible depending on your learning goals and the needs of the organisation.

You will be part of our office team (7 part-time staff + 2 ESC volunteers + variable number of interns) which supports the work of the movement. Since CATAPA is a volunteer movement, you will be working in close collaboration with motivated and enthusiastic volunteers.

Possible tasks

Education and Movement

  • Organise awareness raising and training activities for a variety of target groups (training days/weekends, documentary screenings, workshops, info evenings, public actions…)
  • Develop educational tools and manuals
  • Support volunteers and contribute with volunteer management tasks
  • Participate actively in the Education & Movement  working group and its activities
  • Help to develop and implement our central campaign on ‘wellbeing economy’.
  • Write, revise and proofread articles, educational tools and reports 
  • Possibility to help with research tasks linked to mining and/or circular/wellbeing economy
  • Some administrative tasks related to the daily functioning of our office with the possibility to get an insight in the management of a non-profit organisation
  • Help out with organising our International Speakers Tour: Open Min(e)d 
  • Take part in our Changemakers programme
  • Possibility to develop and implement your own projects.

Communication & Campaigns

  • Assist with creating promotional material for social media and posters
  • Help with the communication and promotion tasks for events
  • Helping to develop and implement our central campaign on ‘wellbeing economy’.
  • Contribute in managing our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)
  • Help in keeping our website updated
  • Write, review and proofread articles
  • Helping with the elaboration of low-threshold graphic design
  • Participate actively in the Communication working group and its activities
  • Support volunteers and contribute to volunteer management tasks
  • Assist in the organisation of various educational activities (International Speakers Tour ‘Open Min(e)d’, training weekends, public actions, info-evenings, documentary screenings…)
  • Take part in our Changemakers programme
  • Some administrative tasks related to the daily functioning of our office with the possibility to get an insight in the management of a non-profit organisation
  • Develop and implement your own ideas (for activities) into the work of CATAPA.

Requirements

Education and Movement

Essential

  • Motivated to work with volunteers
  • Interest in learning about the social and environmental movement and mining issues
  • Good command of English
  • Independent, proactive worker
  • Good communication skills
  • Willing to contribute to positive change in the world we live in
  • Team player with a flexible attitude 
  • Age: below 31 years

Desirable

  • Knowledge/experience on or interest to learn about: 
    • Developing educational material (e.g. workshops) 
    • Organizing educational events
    • Volunteer management
    • Circular and degrowth economy, environmental movements and/or international development
    • Implementation and coordination of campaigns 
  • Good knowledge of Dutch and/or Spanish

Communication & Campaigns

Essential

  • Interest in learning about the social and environmental movement and mining issues
  • Good command of English
  • Independent, proactive worker
  • Motivated to work with volunteers
  • Good communication skills
  • Will to contribute to positive change in the world we live in
  • Team player with a flexible attitude 
  • Age: below 31 years

Desirable

  • Knowledge/experience on or interest to learn about: 
    • Communication strategies
    • Design and layout skills 
    • Circular and degrowth economy, environmental movements and/or international development
    • Volunteer management
    • Managing social media and websites
  • Good knowledge of Dutch and/or Spanish

What do we offer?

  • A warm welcome in our horizontally organized movement with plenty of learning opportunities and new connections
  • A dynamic & motivated team of employees and volunteers
  • Monthly fee: Cohousing accommodation of your choice (with a max. rent of €400) and a reimbursement to cover daily expenses of €400.
  • A personal learning trajectory coached by one of CATAPA’s employees, one language course (Dutch, English or Spanish) and options to follow trainings to develop your personal skills.
  • Work-related expenses are paid by CATAPA

Important: This call is part of the European Solidarity Corps. It’s an European Union initiative which creates opportunities for young people to volunteer in projects abroad. This means Belgian people can’t apply for this vacancy.

The volunteer positions will start from the 1st of September, for a period of 12 months and 30 hours a week.

 

Interested or more information?

Please send your CV and motivation letter to communication@catapa.be before 22h00 on the 30th of June 2021. Please, remember to specify which one of the two positions you are applying for in the subject of the email and in your motivation letter. If you have any questions concerning these vacancies, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@catapa.be.

More information: www.catapa.be

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

Today CATAPA joins 180+ communities, organisation and academics to tell the EU to abandon its plans to expand dirty mining as part of EU Green Deal and Green Recovery plans.

In 2019, the European Commission published its European Green Deal, an action plan outlining climate and environmental policies and initiatives to be taken forward in the coming years.

Despite laudable intentions, these plans have at their heart the damaging and illogical idea of ‘green growth‘ and assume ‘business-as-usual’ consumption of energy and materials in the EU.

In particular, as they stand, Europe’s Green Deal plans will lead to a dramatic increase in demand for mineral and metals that the European Commission intends to meet through a large number of new mining projects – both inside and outside the EU.

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

This planned reliance on mining to deliver the Green Deal is a cause of major concern for civil society around the world.

Mining companies are responsible for an enormous human and ecological toll on every continent. The sector is responsible for extensive human rights violations, conflicts with and within affected communities, and the exploitation of labour and exacerbation of socio-economic inequalities. It is also a significant contributor to climate change, global biodiversity loss and water stress.

Increasing material demand and the EU’s plans to meet it through new mining projects will escalate all of these problems. Mining-affected communities in Europe and their allies in civil society oppose the continuous expansion of the mining industry and challenge the dominant narrative of unlimited growth and policies which uphold it.

The EU can’t mine its way out of the climate crises

The release of this collective statement outlines a civil society analysis of the EU’s current plans and suggests how the EU can address the systemic issues underpinning endless extractivism and turn the tide toward a more just and sustainable future.

The recommendations include the critical need for the EU and Member States to realise in law communities’ right to free, prior and informed consent, including the Right to Say No, as well as to put urgent measures in place to achieve absolute reductions in demand for – and consumption of – raw materials in Europe.

We must urgently and rapidly transition our energy, transport and economic systems to renewables, but relying on expanding mining to meet the material needs of the renewable transition will replicate the injustices, destruction and dangerous assumptions that have caused climate breakdown in the first place. 

In other words, we can’t solve our problems with the same thinking that created them in the first place.

Together, in solidarity with allies in the North and South, we call for:

  • The Right to Say No for all communities facing extractive projects and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC);
  • For the EU to set, legislate for and meet binding targets to reduce its overconsumption of materials, in line with planetary boundaries and its global fair share;
  • For just de-growth strategies, not ‘green growth’ or ‘decoupling’, to be placed at the heart of EU climate action;
  • For an end to EU subsidies to mining and undemocratic industry alliances.
  • To treat minerals and metals as common, public goods.
  • Action to remedy mining waste liabilities, to ensure all mining sites are properly restored so that they can no longer continue to contaminate and harm communities and their environment.
  • To ensure EU demand for raw materials does not impact communities and ecosystems in the Global South and that remedy is available when impacts and violations do occur…

 

Find out more by reading our collective statement, signed by 180+ communities, organisations and academics:

‘Driving Destructive Mining: EU Civil Society denounces EU raw material plans in European Green Deal’ – Written by the Yes To Life No To Mining European Working Group. 

The Colombian Government Responds with Extractivism and mining

15 Days of Protests, 40 People Killed, More Than 400 Disappeared: The Colombian Government Responds with Extractivism

NEWS:

15 Days of Protests, 40 People Killed, More Than 400 Disappeared: The Colombian Government Responds with Extractivism

 

After 15 Days of demonstrations and 40 homicides caused by police in Colombia, the government of Iván Duque presents a bill to strengthen the investment of those who intend to exploit gold in the Paramo de Santurbán.

Fifteen days of demonstrations have passed in Colombia against tax policies aimed at taxing the basic family food basket, even though the minimum wage of Colombians is below US$260 per month, and the unemployment rate in the pandemic has increased by 14%. There are currently 1 million more unemployed than at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

The government has invested money in war, and announced the purchase of 24 war planes costing more than 4.5 billion dollars, despite the fact that the figures for police abuses in the protests are on the rise, with more than 40 demonstrators killed and some 500 people missing. Congressman Wilson Arias has denounced the purchase of more than 14 billion pesos in weapons for the ESMAD (Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron), the police used to repress protest in Colombia.

Colombia is literally in flames, the national press is biased, the information is manipulated, the alternative press is violated in the streets, even a journalist has had a grenade thrown at his head according to the denunciation of the FLIP (Foundation for Freedom of the Press).

colombians citizens see army on the streets

…the Colombian government continues to strengthen it’s relationship with the government of the United Arab Emirates, a government that… has a controversial investment in the exploitation of GOLD and polymetals in the ecosystem of the Páramo de Santurbán, in northeastern Colombia.

The southwest of the country, where the strongest demonstrations are concentrated, has suffered power outages and the blocking of internet networks, making it impossible to broadcast the lives of the abuses occurring in the area. There has also been the appearance of civilians dressed in white clothes who call themselves “good citizens”, these people are heavily armed and there is no one to stop them, the police have escorted them on several occasions.

Not enough with this, on May 11, the national government has decided to propose bills 296 and 312 of 2020, through which the agreement signed between the Colombian government and the government of the Arab Emirates for the elimination of double taxation with respect to income and the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance and its protocols, signed in Dubai on November 12, 2017, would be approved. 

This means that the Colombian government continues to strengthen the relationship with the government of the United Arab Emirates, a government that so far has a controversial investment in Colombia and it is about the exploitation of GOLD and polymetals in the ecosystem of the Páramo de Santurbán, in northeastern Colombia.

This ecosystem supplies the water supply for more than 2,500,000 people in Santander and Norte de Santander, a department that borders Venezuela. For the past 10 years, citizens have been demonstrating against this type of projects, and to date, 3 mega-mining projects have been stopped in the Páramo de Santurbán.

people on rooftop with flags of colombia

MINESA has encountered the same panorama as the previous investors in Colombia: a people that reject mega-mining exploitation

Two attempts by the multinational Greystar, one for open-pit mining and for which its environmental license application was denied. And the second, where the same company changed its name to ECO ORO and presented a subway mining megaproject in the same place where it had presented the previous application.

The company has encountered opposition from the public. Its project goes against the principles of environmental protection in Colombian law, and in response to the denial of the company’s request, it has decided to sue the Colombian State before ICSID (World Bank) for more than US$764 million.

The third project corresponds precisely to that of the United Arab Emirates with its company MINESA, which belongs to the subsidiary of the sovereign wealth fund of the Emirate State: MUBADALA. MINESA has encountered the same panorama as the previous investors in Colombia: a people that rejects the mega-mining exploitation in Colombia and especially in the high mountains of the strategic ecosystems that supply water for the human consumption of 80% of the Colombian population.

So in January 2021 the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has decided to archive this application for polymetallic exploitation, but the decision goes far beyond a technical equation of experts who consider totally risky and unfeasible a project of this scale in an ecosystem as fragile as the Páramos in Colombia.

It is not “only” the 9 million ounces of gold and other metals to be exploited by the Emirati prince’s fund. The decision is political. Previous Colombian governments (Alvaro Uribe Velez, Juan Manuel Santos) have made apparently “disinterested” transactions with the government of the United Arab Emirates, the most recent ones: a donation of 10 million dollars for economic reactivation in Colombia or the exorbitant sum of 150 tablets to “reduce the digital gap” in Colombia, a country with more than 50 million inhabitants.

Citizen complaints also go beyond ecosystem protection. So far, there is a regulatory vacuum regarding the delimitation of these ecosystems, and Santurbán specifically is not delimited. The scope of the environmental liabilities is not clear, nor is there any guarantee that the project will not impact the numerous populations living further downstream. 

Virtual classes, but no Internet access: Education during a pandemic in Peru

Virtual classes, but no Internet access: Education during a pandemic in Peru

Webinar:

Virtual classes, but no Internet access: Education during a pandemic in Peru

May 11th, Online

Registration

Imagine living in a rural community where there´s no Internet, no cable TV, close to no means of communication, and still being expected to continue your classes virtually. This is the case in many rural communities in Peru.

The situation regarding COVID-19 exposed many underlying problems in the country, which is why in May last year, Grufides and CATAPA started a new project tackling these issues with the help of the City of Antwerp.

The main goal of this project was to strengthen access to information and communication technology in rural communities in the context of COVID-19 in Cajamarca, Peru.

Join us for this webinar as we showcase the results of the project work, which focused on four communities in Cajamarca, Peru.

Discover how local citizens learned about their rights and how to claim them. Learn how citizen journalism can play a role via drawing attention to the communities internet and educational problems and reality. And see whether the government actually improved their access to ICT over the past year.

Excited to learn more about virtual education in smaller rural communities in Peru?

Excited to see the public denouncement through video and radio which the communities themselves made during this project?

Then join on Tuesday the 11th of May!

 

You can view, invite friends and share the Facebook event here

You can find the Registration form here

This event will take place online, don’t forget to register online in advance, as only registered participants will receive a zoom link.

 

Organized by Catapa & Grufides
#SOSCOLOMBIA

What is happening in Colombia right now?

NEWS:

What is happening in Colombia right now?

#SOSCOLOMBIA

05.05.2021

 

In Colombia, since April 28, 2021, a National Strike has been taking place against tax policies. The government has decided to tax the basic food basket in the middle of a pandemic, despite the fact that unemployment has increased by 14%.

#soscolombia

Official figures state that in March 2020 there were 2,969,000 people unemployed, in March 2021 there are 3,437,000 unemployed people according to DANE.

 

The minister in charge and who proposed this tax reform, has been involved in millionaire corruption scandals in Colombia, and after 5 days of continuous strike, he resigned. Despite these scandals, he has been nominated as a candidate to be president of the Development Bank of Latin America – CAF. 

#SOSCOLOMBIA

Due to citizen pressure, the vice minister of finance Juan Alberto Londoño also resigned from his position. However he was immediately appointed as the new minister of commerce in Colombia.

 

The government has announced the withdrawal of the document proposing this tax reform, but as of today, it is still in the Colombian congressional system (which would approve it), filed as an Urgent request.

 

The Colombian government and security forces have been condemned by both the European Union and the United Nations for the ongoing human rights abuses against protestors, social movements and civil society who have taken to the street to oppose the tax policies.

CATAPA JOIN EEB to work on mining

CATAPA Joins Europe’s largest environmental network, the EEB

NEWS:

CATAPA Joins Europe’s largest environmental network

 

After several years of fruitful collaboration, CATAPA has formalised it’s membership as an associate member of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) – Europe’s largest network of environmental citizens’ organisations.  

…agenda setting, monitoring, advising on and influencing the way the EU deals with issues.

The EEB brings together over 160 civil society organisations from more than 35 European countries, representing some 30 million supporters and members. It stands for sustainable development, environmental justice & participatory democracy.

CATAPA looks forward to working as an associate of the EEB to tackle Europe’s most pressing environmental problems by agenda setting, monitoring, advising on and influencing how the EU deals with these issues.

The core areas which CATAPA will be working on include; the economic transition, mining and waste prevention, ecodesign in the ICT sector as well as more broadly engaging in policy on climate change, energy, global supply chains, degrowth, Buen vivir, urban mining and resource reduction strategies.

CATAPA looks forward to bringing its expertise to the EEB, to keep the raw materials issue in all its complexity on the EU agenda…

While the primary focus of the EEB’s work is on the EU and its decision-making processes, it works also on wider regional and global processes, at the level of the UN and the OECD, particularly on the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development.

CATAPA looks forward to bringing its expertise to the EEB, to keep the raw materials issue in all its complexity on the EU agenda and to work for an economic alternative that puts well-being, not growth, at the centre of our society.

Escuela de Primavera: Catapa’s spring school on extractivism in Colombia

ONLINE SPRING SCHOOL:

Escuela de Primavera: Catapa’s spring school on extractivism in Colombia

April 21st – May 29th, Online

Registration

Learn about the struggle against extractivism in Colombia through our ‘Escuela de Primavera’.

This year CATAPA are hosting a new online spring school which will include a series of online sessions with front line defenders and scientists from Colombia. The ‘Escuela de Primavera’ aims to inform the participants on the specific struggles of various regions and peoples in Colombia.

We will learn why communities are fighting in resistance, how they are organised and what we can do to contribute.

You can view, invite friends and share the Facebook event here

You can find the Registration form here

 

Schedule:

21 April: Geology for Dummies – A short history of the planet and the minerals in the Andes mountains.

 

29 April: Jericó, The threat of the mining district – How a gold multinational wants to exploit the South-East region of Antioquia, Colombia.

 

13 May: Cajamarca – The vibrant and continuous struggle of an unconquerable village for its lands.

 

27 May: Santurbán – Water, paramós and a resistance with no truce: The case of Santurbán.

 

29 May: Tribuga – Movie discussion on the struggle of the Pacific Colombian coast against the construction of a mega port. 

The Escuela de Primavera will take place online, don’t forget to register online in advance, as only registered participants will receive a zoom link.

Watch: The Case for Degrowth

WEBINAR & BOOK LECTURE:

Watch: The Case for Degrowth

27th February, 2020

Join expert and author Federico Demaria as he presents his new book ‘The case for Degrowth’.

On Friday 19th February CATAPA in partnership with Oikos and The Centre for Sustainable Development, Gent University saw over 100 participants join the Book Lecture: The Case for Degrowth with Author Federico Demaria.

Watch now, The Case for Degrowth on Youtube. 

 

Overview

Federico opened by presenting his book and making a compelling case for degrowth economics. This was followed by an interesting panel debate featuring Hanne Cottyn of CATAPA, Irma Emmery of Centre for Sustainable Development, Gent University and Dirk Holemans of Oikos in conversation with the Author Federico Demaria.

The panel discussion ranged from, key and critical reflections on the book, the role of the state in a degrowth economy, the commons and much more.

To close, there was an audience Question & Answer session, after which the panelists gave their final thoughts on where can we find inspiration for a future in which degrowth is part of the transformation needed to tackle the contemporary challenges of ecological and climate breakdown.

You can watch the full recording here.

10 Ways CATAPA Took on the Mining Industry in 2020

10 Ways CATAPA Took on the Mining Industry in 2020

 

Its been a challenging year across the world with the Covid-19 pandemic not least for communities facing down mining projects trying to exploit the situation we now find ourselves in.

Despite these new challenges here are 10 Ways CATAPA Took on the Mining Industry in 2020:

1. Uncovering the exploitation of Bolivian miners in European supply chains

In 2020 CATAPA produced a research article uncovering how the rare metal Indium exchanges hands without being paid for, as it travels through the supply chain, from Bolivian mines into the hands of European Industry. This followed up the first investigation on polymetal mining in Bolivia earlier in 2020 which assessed the impacts of mining in the region of Oruro. The research mapped the local and regional actors involved in the Bolivian supply chain, to better understand what “Making ICT Fair” could look like in a Bolivian context.

2. Supporting the #WhoIsKillingThem Campaign

Colombia is the most dangerous region worldwide for people defending the environment. This is why CATAPA, led by CATAPA Colombia activists launched the campaign called #WhoIsKillingThem to raise awareness about the impacts of mining and the increasing number of environmental and social activists being assassinated in Colombia.

3. Empowering Water Guardians in Peru

The ‘Guardianxs del Agua’ project involved providing water monitoring training to 5 local ‘water committees’, whose fresh water sources are in danger from current and potential mining projects in Cajarmarca, Peru.  The series of workshops and trainings provided the “Guardians of Water” with the capabilities to better identify any signs of contamination and document the quality and quantity of local water supplies.

A social media campaign called “Guardianxs del Agua”, drew attention to the work of the water monitoring committees and the importance of protecting these last sources of clean water. The campaign also raised national attention around a new law proposal, which would protect environmental committees. The project and campaign ended with the publication of a short documentary Guardianxs del Agua.

4. Hosting an International Webinar Series on sustainable and responsible electronic supply chains

In 2017, eleven European partners joined forces to create the project “Make ICT Fair – Reforming manufacture and minerals supply chains through policy, finance and public procurement”. Organized by CATAPA, the Make ICT Fair international webinar series drew hundreds of participants from multiple continents with the aim to improve the lives of workers and local communities impacted along the ICT supply chain through research, capacity building and campaigning. 

5. Adapting mining activism during a Pandemic

CATAPA’s largest annual event, the Open Min(e)d Speakers Tour, included guest speakers from Hong Kong, Ecuador and Colombia before being moved online by the start of the pandemic. 2020’s changemaker trajectory saw 30 changemakers complete our tailed programme on Extractivism, Degrowth and Buen Vivir with various trainings, including on how to run impactful social media campaigns.

Partnering with universities Catapistas gave lectures to students on issues such as resource conflicts and human rights violations in Latin America. Every year CATAPA supervises several students writing their thesis about mining related issues & ICT procurement and ‘Thesis 4 Bolivia” provided a space for graduates and researchers to share their experiences of conducting research abroad. 

2020 also brought new opportunities as CATAPA delved into the world of Deep Sea Mining with a webinar and the formation of an action group. Once the first wave subsided, covid safe Summer’s End Sessions were created, allowing the Catapistas to further build and develop the movements strategy for 2021.

CATAPA put on Doculatino and Cinema Peru, an online series of film screenings which highlighted the stories of the featured communities impacted by extractive industries. Bar Circular saw hundreds tune into a series of ICT workshops taking place online, covering topics on digital health, repair and how to extend the lifespan of your digital devices.  

 

6. Challenging the European Commission’s Green Mining Agenda

CATAPA joined over 230 civil society organisations, community platforms and academics in releasing an open letter to call on the European Commission to urgently reassess its plans to drive a new resource grab both in the EU and the global South.

Instead of expanding and repatriating mining destruction which will threaten communities, biodiversity & the planetary life support systems – we called for:

1. Absolute reduction of resource use and demand in Europe

2. Recognition and respect for communities’ Right to Say No to mining

3. Enforcement of existing EU environmental law and respect for conservation areas

4. An end to exploitation of Global South nations, and respect for human rights

5. Protection of ‘ new frontiers’ – like the deep sea- from mining.

7. Raising the profile of ‘El Tingo’

The community of El Tingo is one of the most affected by mining in Cajamarca (Peru), as the community is located between two mining projects. Despite mining companies Gold Fields and Coimolache signing social agreements with the community, the mining projects brought the community water contamination, loss of agriculture and livestock, property destruction, heavy metals in the blood of the community members and empty promises of work in the mines.

In 2020 the community of El Tingo decided to speak out. This project resulted in the powerful documentary ‘El Tingo: una comunidad bajo dos proyectos mineros’ and has been viewed over 22,000 times to date.

8. Securing recognized Socio-Cultural Status

We secured social-cultural organizational status, allowing us to increase the number of paid staff we have and finance more exciting projects and initiatives from 2021 onwards. This was really important to secure structural funding especially in the current economic context – allowing us to carry on fighting for a socially and ecologically just planet.

9. Piloting worker led monitoring of the mining industry

CATAPA entered into a new partnership in 2020, which will see the extension of worker-driven monitoring of mining operations across three continents. CATAPA supported the delivery of monitoring trainings with Electronics Watch and CISEP to start building the local foundations needed to begin the monitoring of Bolivian Tin mines. The end goal of worker driven monitoring of these mines, will be an important step-change in the transparency of these global supply chains.

10. Encouraging Public and Private bodies to clean up their ICT

The links between mining and ICT products are clear. The average smartphone contains 60 different elements, many of which are metals. Without the extraction of metals many of the technologies used in offices across Belgium would not exist. This year the Fair ICT Flanders project set up a learning network with 30 large buyers of ICT hardware and actively supported  6 pilot organisations in Flanders to make their purchasing policies more sustainable. The first Fair ICT Award was given to the KU Leuven. They were recognized for their commitment to ‘ Human Rights Due Diligence’ and life extension of their ICT devices. In this way, they hold the ICT industry accountable and contribute to less (over)consumption and mining.’

If you want to get involved in CATAPA’s activism and find out more about what we have in store for 2021, you can contact us to sign up for email updates here – and if you can afford it, please donate to support our efforts to stop mining here.

Woman Smashing Rocks

Worker Driven Monitoring of the Mining Sector

NEWS:

Worker Driven Monitoring of the Mining Sector

 

CATAPA is entering a new partnership which will trial worker-driven monitoring of mining operations across three continents. 

A new pilot project has been launched, in which Electronics Watch will be cooperating with CISEP and CATAPA to establish worker-driven monitoring in the tin mines in Oruro, Bolivia.

The goal of this project is to put in place a monitoring tool for public procurers to check their supply chains from the mining stage. Using a bottom-up approach the ambition is to improve working conditions for miners and stop further environmental degradation to those areas that directly affect communities downstream.

As a first step in the process, Electronics Watch with linguistic support from CATAPA provided 4 monitoring training sessions, focusing on:

  • The strengths of public procurement and the Electronics Watch model
  • Methods for worker-driven monitoring
  • Analysis of results and options for remediation
  • Reporting the findings and engaging companies

Similar monitoring projects are also being set up by Electronics Watch with partners in the Philippines (nickel mines) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (cobalt mines), in addition to Bolivia (Tin). These three metals are essential resources needed for the manufacturing of electronics and batteries. 

The end goal of worker driven monitoring of these mines will be an important step-change in the transparency of global supply chains and we look forward to working with our project partners into the future.