CSR Case Studies: Tiger Resources Raising Infant Health and Maternal Outcomes Program in DRC

Overview

Tiger Resources (Tiger) has been active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 2006, with its operations focussed on the production and exploration of copper and cobalt in the southern province of Katanga. Tiger’s tenements are located between the capital of the Southern Katanga Province, Lubumbashi and the city of Kolwezi, further to the west.

In July 2010, Tiger commenced its Stage 1 mine development and site works at its Kipoi Copper Project, 75km north-west of Lubumbashi, the capital of the southern Katanga Province.

Raising Infant Health and Maternal Outcomes Program (RIHMOP) is a partnership between Tiger and Edith Cowan University’s (ECU) School of Nursing and Midwifery in Perth, who run the largest undergraduate nursing program in Western Australia. ECU also has a number of international partners with whom they actively participate in educational exchange programs.

The concept was to identify a trial area relatively close to the Kipoi Copper Project of around 10,000 – 20,000 people. A health base-line would be established to understand infant mortality rates and maternal health issues suffered by women.

The program aims to:

• Provide enhanced skills and resources to birth attendants located in this area,
• Focus on hygiene, infection control and vitamin supplements, as well as providing basic ambulance services,
• Train local birthing attendants to have improved decision making skills and provide earlier intervention,
• Have ECU staff provide training programs and mentoring for local hospital based medical staff.

The Challenge

As the DRC remains one of the poorest countries in the world, many of its people struggle to lead healthy and productive lives because of the historic lack of opportunity for gainful employment and health services.

As part of feasibility studies when first entering the DRC, Tiger identified infant mortality and maternal health as the key concerns of the local communities. Current infant mortality rates in the DRC are 78.4 deaths/1,000 live births, while the maternal mortality rate is some 6.7 deaths/1,000 live births.

In developing a program to address infant mortality and maternal health, Tiger realised it needed to find a partner with skills and experience in engaging with disadvantaged people, discussing sensitive health issues, assessing health risks and developing solutions in underdeveloped and foreign environments.

The core aspects of the program are:

• ‘Train the trainer’ to support an obstetrics program,
• Provide an emergency obstetric program,
• Provide an ongoing mentoring program.

The program will commence in May 2012, with an obstetrics training program followed immediately by a train-the-trainer program. It will be conducted by two senior staff from the Edith Cowan School of Nursing who visited the DRC in July 2011 and undertook the initial feasibility study. The training will be for 2 hospital based staff, 4 country birthing assistants and 1 doctor.

Additional Assistance

Two opportunities to add value to Tiger’s social development investment were identified by ECU staff during their time in DRC. These include an ambulance service for women in labour (otherwise a 40km walk) and opportunities for key hospital staff to undertake training at ECU in Perth.

If the funding application for a four-wheel-drive ambulance is successful, servicing and fuel requirements for the vehicle will be provided by Tiger’s facilities at the Kipoi Copper Project.

Additional disposable birthing kits will be available to birthing attendants for use in their areas of responsibility, as well as additional supplies for their permanent medical kits. Ongoing support to birthing attendants will be provided by the Tiger Resources medical centre at the Kipoi Copper Project.

These opportunities may have been overlooked if not for the on-the-ground approach to this project-scoping phase.

Implementation

RIHMOP’s fundamental outcome is to teach teachers. Tiger and ECU both recognise true change can only be delivered from within and not imposed from outside. Mentoring and support programs will continue into the future, though it is hoped the actual RIHMOP initiative will be able to demonstrate success in a fairly short period of time.

RIHMOP will also open dialogue with non-Government organisations such as the Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia) to investigate how they can be part of this initiative. The Foundation will provide a cheap and effective kit for each labour and source the materials to be able to make the kits within the DRC, enhancing employment opportunities.

Monitoring and evaluation

The project will have ongoing monitoring provided by ECU and an evaluation will be provided at the end of the 12 month period in May, 2013.

It is envisaged that a further mentoring and training program will continue to be rolled out across the local community to ensure that ongoing positive changes are implemented in the infant health system. This may include experienced nursing staff travelling to the DRC and providing ongoing training and mentoring.

Tiger’s long term commitment involves continuing to work with the communities close to its operations, as well as regionally. Tiger will monitor and enhance these social and economic opportunities while conducting its business in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner.

Summary

The collaborative approach involving Tiger and ECU is expected to deliver lasting value to all, particularly the people in the communities in the vicinity of Tiger’s operations in the DRC. It will help local communities develop the capacity to sustain higher standards of living, not only during the life of the mine, but for long after the end-of-mine life.