KGL Community Foundation

About the KGL Community Foundation

The KGL Community Foundation, a legally registered entity in Canada, was established in 2007 and is overseen by an independent board of directors. The main objectives of the Foundation are to help the communities around the KGL exploration sites improve their lives:

• by building the capacity of these communities to identify their needs and establish priorities;
• by collaborating with stakeholders and interest groups to design, monitor, and evaluate programs and strategies; and,
• by partnering with local, national, and international organizations already in the area.

The KGL Foundation aims to keep administration costs to a minimum (under 20% of total budget) and uses, where possible, local expertise, contractors and labour in its projects.

Learn more about Kilo's corporate responsibility

| About the Foundation | Community Needs | Project Details & Photos |

Communities Articulate Their Needs

The four members of the KGL Community Fund team first met in Beni, North Kivu. The week before the arrival of the Canadian team member, a series of community meetings was held in Mambasa, Biakatu, and Bella. Several recurring themes emerged: health, agriculture, education, energy, communication, social affairs, and infrastructure. At community meetings held in Mambasa and Biakatu, delegates made presentations on the following topics:

Water

Access to clean water is a huge problem for the whole community. Each day, women and girls must walk, sometimes as far as a kilometer from their homes, to fetch water, often dirty. There were reports of women fighting for water.

Health

The delegate suggested building capacity of the local hospital since access to good medical care is difficult. Huge distances, inaccessible roads, and lack of transport separate these communities from better-equipped centres. The birth rate is high and maternal health care poor. Urgent medical cases are taken to the hospital on foot. The number of trained medical personnel is inadequate for the needs of the population.

Schools

The delegate focused on the needs of secondary (high) school graduates and suggested that young people receive post-secondary education in Mambasa and remain there to contribute to their community. There are many children in the village, so more classrooms are needed. Existing school buildings need major repairs.

The cost of schooling for primary school is $15 and secondary school $30 a year. While the average number of children per family is five, most families can afford to send only two children to school, usually the boys.

Radio

The radio station in Mambasa, accountable to a national body, was started after the war by a group of young people with two goals: peace and development. Everyone who works at the radio station is a volunteer; 15 presenters, none of whom have specific training, offer programming in 5 languages from 6:00-8:30 a.m. and 5:00-9:15 p.m. A small income, generated from advertising and computer skills training, pays for gas for the generator.

The spokesperson suggested that the chiefs around Mambasa need the radio for communication; at present those outside the 26 km radius miss important information. He suggested that a higher tower would allow for further distribution of programs on education, health, hygiene, agriculture, and animal husbandry beyond the current 26 km radius.

Sports and Recreation

The delegates reported a need for rehabilitation of soccer fields and suggested that multipurpose rooms/halls would benefit the whole community.

Pygmy Delegate

About 5,400 pygmies live in the area. The delegate expressed a need for a school and for their children to be taught in their own language. She reported that access to clean water is their main problem. Because pygmies cannot afford health care fees, they are turned away from the hospital. She reported that many women die during childbirth.

Delegate for Women

The delegate for women reported that few girls attend school since women and girls are expected to work in the house and fields. She commented that there are no opportunities for skills training and suggested evening school for adults.

People with Disabilities

This delegate reported that health care is not easily accessible to them and that many need medical devices to facilitate their mobility. He described the difficulties of many disabled people: no family assistance, no jobs, and no medical devices. They would appreciate training. He told of a group of disabled people has bought sand and cement but need assistance completing building a home for the disabled.

Artisinal Workers

The delegate reported many social problems associated with the population in the aupailleurs village: lack of adequate housing, clean water supply, and access to medical care are issues, particularly for refugees and orphans; a high rate of youth prostitution and incidence of STDs; boys working to ease the financial burden on their parents; poor nutrition among the workers.

| About the Foundation | Community Needs | Project Details & Photos |

Project Details and Photos

Below are some examples of the projects that the KGL Community Foundation has implemented.

Project 1: Mambasa

The malaria awareness training was prepared by the team nurse and well received by the members of REMMA in Mambasa. The best students are being prepared to do workshops for other groups.

The soccer tournament was the first since the end of the conflict. The pygmies participated and dream of playing soccer in Kinshasa.

Project 2: Isiro

The Fund assisted Father Celestin finish his piggery and purchased 8 piglets from the University of Butembo agricultural extension department.

The Fund also purchased four sewing machines for the program Father Celestin runs for young mothers.

Mother Jeanne requested that the Fund purchase a plot of land closer to town for her young mothers' agricultural program so that the young women no longer had to travel far into the forest. We also donated a motor cycle for the nuns to transport milk to their orphanage from a distant farm and kitchen utensils for the young mothers' restaurant, an income-generating project in town.

Project 3: Dermatologist's Visit to Two Pygmy Settlements

A local dermatologist and his assistant, as well as members of the KGL Community Foundation team - Hermeline and nurse Natalie - visited two pygmy settlements on the outskirts of Mambasa. Because the pygmies are not part of any economy, they have no money and are refused service at the local hospital and clinics. At the first site, the doctor saw 105 people, of whom 45 were treated for skin ailments; at the second location, 145 people who were examined and 90 treated. The doctor reported that lack food and poor hygiene are the cause of many of the pygmies' problems.

Follow-up for these two pygmy settlements should include another visit from the dermatologist, an agricultural/animal husbandry pilot project, construction of wells and traditional latrines.

Project 4: Pygmy School

Work on the school at Location 2, 18 kms south of Mambasa on the Beni-Mambasa axis was completed at the end of May 2008. Two members of the community were trained as bricklayers, and the doors and windows were supplied by local carpenters at the Catholic Mission in Mambasa.

Project 5: Radio Amkeni

A journalist and technician from Kinshasa conducted a ten-day training session with the team at the Amendi Radio Station in Mambasa. In their end-of-assignment report, the trainers assessed the progress of each participant and made recommendations for the technical requirements for extending the service to cover communities further south where the KGL Masters properties are located.

Project 6: Land Administrator's Office

In return for a plot of land in Mambasa, the site of a proposed training centre, the Foundation contributed to the building of a new office building for the local government official. Research shows that the development of strong local government is an important aspect in building stabilization of post-conflict areas.

Project 7: Agriculture, Apiculture and Animal Husbandry Programs

CEFADES, the agricultural extension service of the University of Butembo, spent a week teaching beekeeping to the pygmies at Settlements 1 and 2. The pygmies collect honey in the forests so expressed much interest in bee farming. The program delivered by CEFADES is based on the pygmies' traditional methods.

CEFADES also conducted an assessment of the needs of the Biakatu Agricultural Co-Op, a community of about five hundred farmers and fishermen. We were impressed with the organization of this group and therefore responded to their request for help with better seed, stock and more efficient agricultural, animal husbandry and aquaculture methods.

| About the Foundation | Community Needs | Project Details & Photos |