IMPACT is pleased to present our newly released 2019 Annual Report, Strengthening Resilience.

In 2019, we were forced to be flexible as the Ebola epidemic hit the mine sites and communities in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri Province with whom IMPACT works. While protecting the health and security of our staff, partners, and beneficiaries, we deployed strategies to ensure our initiatives could withstand this crisis, including by further consolidating partnerships with local organizations.

Throughout the year, we advanced ongoing projects while pursuing new ways to support communities. We’re excited to share with you highlights from our work from the past year to transform natural resource management in areas where security and human rights are at risk.

A few milestones from 2019:

• In January, we kicked off the Just Gold project in in Côte d’Ivoire, supporting artisanal gold miners, cooperatives, traders, and exporters to produce and sell their artisanal gold according to international standards.
• In March, we launched the Women of Peace project which helped train women in DRC’s mining communities on peaceful negotiation and mediation—leading to the successful resolution of 63 local conflicts.
• In June, we completed the prototype for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region’s (ICGLR) Regional Database on Mineral Flows, which will store publicly accessible information to monitor and track the flow of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold.
• In November, we revealed how government policies in India are incentivizing illicit trade in our in-depth investigative report, A Golden Web: How India Became One of the World’s Largest Gold Smuggling Hubs.
• In December, through our Just Gold project in DRC, we supported the mining cooperative in reducing and eliminating mercury at two mine sites through training and equipment.

We’re delighted to share all of this and more with you in our 2019 Annual Report. We invite you to read it here, and share with your network.