New partnership to support children in the DRC Copperbelt

Congo Children Trust is pleased to share the news of a new partnership with Kumi

Foundation and Yokogawa Electric Corporation.

The partnership was formalised through a memorandum of understanding signed

at the Japan-DRC Business Forum in Kinshasa on March 2. Together, we will work to strengthen education and child protection for vulnerable children living in mining communities in Lubumbashi and Kolwezi.

For over seventeen years, Congo Children Trust has supported children who are at

risk, including street children, through our Kimbilio programme. This new

collaboration will help us build on that work and reach more children with the care,

education and protection they need.

Through the partnership, Yokogawa will support digital learning and provide

educational materials for Kimbilio schools and training centres. This support is

intended to strengthen Kimbilio’s educational initiative by facilitating access to

learning opportunities for children and young people who, due to their families’

financial hardship, have been engaged in artisanal mining activities or have

otherwise been compelled to become self-reliant at an early age.

We will also explore further ways to strengthen child safeguarding services across

the Copperbelt, responding to the risks faced by children growing up in and around

mining areas.

We are grateful to Kumi Foundation for helping connect responsible businesses with

local organisations and for supporting community led solutions that place children at

the centre.

We look forward to working together to create safer childhoods and brighter futures

for children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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