Several leaders of civil society organizations from the municipalities of Zaragoza, El Bagre in Antioquia, and San Martín and Barranco de Loba in the South of Bolivar joined the Solidarity Network Meeting in November 2021 as part of the Pilares Project led by Pact in partnership with the Alliance for Responsible Mining.
These leaders created solidarity networks in each municipality to lead projects in their territories. This meeting helped strengthen their strategy and sustainability process over time to ensure a continued positive impact on their communities.
Here, participants exchanged lessons learned on the elimination of child labor and good workplace and safety practices applicable for artisanal and small-scale mining and other economic activities in their regions.
Ignacio Pérez from the Multiactive Agromining Cooperative of Íquira, a Fairmined-certified mining organization, also participated in this event sharing his experience in implementing occupational health and safety policies at this organization.
Three-panel sessions were also held at this meeting involving multiple government entities such as the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF), the Ministry of Labor, the National Apprenticeship Service (SENA), and the Department of Childhood and Adolescence, among others.
Since 2018, the Pilares Project has provided training to the Solidarity Networks to boost their skills and bring a positive impact on their territories.