Record
Mining sites, operators, incidents, activities, testimonies: structured, dated, located.
EPRM Project Activity · 3 Months
The EPRM Challenge
A three-month challenge for civil society organisations in southern DRC.
Local organisations already produce valuable knowledge about the mining sector. The Challenge rewards those that organise it, keep control of it, and put it to work.
The Challenge at a glance
- 3months, July to September 2026
- 5final awards, one winner each
- 100%custody: your data stays yours
- 0fees: free, with no obligation
Whoever controls their information controls their capacity to decide, to negotiate, and to grow.
The premise
Why this Challenge
Every day, civil society organisations document what happens in and around mining sites: who operates where, what risks communities face, what is improving and what is not.
Today, most of that knowledge ends up in notebooks, scattered files, or reports written for one donor and never used again. Too often it is collected by outsiders, leaves the country, and creates value for everyone except the people who produced it.
A familiar pattern
Single-use digitisation. International programmes ask local organisations to feed tools they do not control, producing information they cannot reuse once the project ends.
No continuity. Donor-specific tools and short funding windows mean every project starts from zero, and every dataset dies with its grant.
Duplicated effort. The same organisations answer the same questionnaires for the next donor, the next partner, the next audit, because nothing is kept, recognised or reusable across projects.
Imported research. Resources are spent on international researchers flying in, when the knowledge already exists with the actors who live and work on site.
Invisible partners. Local organisations do the work, yet are rarely exposed, promoted or credited where donors and partners are looking.
Digital sovereignty. Information about Congolese communities should be held and governed by the people who produce it, not on servers and licences they have no say over.
A first in the sector
The work local organisations do has value, and the information it produces is a resource in its own right. This Challenge is the first initiative in the sector to recognise that value in practice: an incentive programme, backed by EPRM, that rewards organisations for access to the knowledge they choose to share, on their own terms.
The Challenge is organised under the due diligence project funded by the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM) and led by Hive and Datastake in partnership with La Sentinelle des Ressources Naturelles. It rewards the organisations that organise their information and choose to put it to work. Discover the project →
The tool
Nashiriki, built with and for Congolese civil society
Nashiriki is a free digital platform. No registration fee, no obligation to share anything with anyone.
Keep custody
Information belongs to the organisation that records it, on its own account. It decides what is shared, with whom, and when.
Reuse
Compile once, use many times: funding applications, reports, dialogue with the state and partners.
Be found
Registered organisations appear in the public partner search, where donors, banks and buyers look for credible local partners.
Banks already operate on this ecosystem through KOTA, the platform used for financial access and formalisation of artisanal mining actors. Banks and buyers may seek civil society perspectives on cooperatives, operators and mining zones. Organisations with well-organised information are the natural first port of call.
Discover KOTAThe rules
How the Challenge works
Who can take part
Any civil society organisation registered on Nashiriki with a completed profile, a named focal point, and an accepted partnership with La Sentinelle, the project's local coordinator. Joining is free and takes one session.
Duration
Three months: July to September 2026 (dates to be confirmed).
What counts
Only information an organisation chooses to share into the project partnership with La Sentinelle counts towards the Challenge. Everything else recorded on Nashiriki remains private to its owner and does not affect participation either way.
How scoring works
Contributions are scored automatically by the platform, on quality rather than quantity: complete records score more than thin ones, documented and located records more than vague ones, and steady contribution over three months more than a last-week rush. La Sentinelle reviews results and adjudicates disputes.
Monthly standings
Published in bands (leading, chasing, active, registered) so every organisation sees where it stands without anyone's detailed activity being exposed.
Fair play
Duplicate or fabricated records lead to disqualification. Spot verification takes place during the Challenge.
Sensitive information. No organisation is ever asked to share sensitive details, for example concerning victims or protected persons, to take part. Sensitive material is best kept organised safely in the organisation's own account; that is exactly what the tool is for.
Rewards
Monthly rewards, five final awards.
Every month
Internet credit top-up for every active organisation.
Each organisation reaching the month's activity threshold (a minimum level of quality contributions shared) receives an internet credit top-up. Not a competition: every active participant receives it, every month.
Final awards: five categories, one winner each
| Category | What is recognised | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| Site monitoring | Best documentation of mining sites and zones | Funded field research mission on strategic sites, with the project team |
| Incident documentation | Most rigorous, well-evidenced incident reporting | Laptop and internet credit package |
| Consistency | Most regular contributor across the full three months | Laptop and internet credit package |
| Responsiveness | Best responses to information requests from project partners | Funded supply chain study assignment, commissioned by the project |
| Newcomer | Strongest organisation that joined Nashiriki during the Challenge | Laptop and internet credit package |
One award per organisation. The two funded engagements are remunerated assignments delivered with the project team: working capital and a track record, not just equipment.
Beyond the prizes: top contributors are flagged as Nashiriki champions on their public profile, the organisations donors, banks and buyers find first.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Do organisations have to share their information?
No. Nashiriki is free regardless. Sharing is always voluntary, record by record. Only shared information counts for the Challenge, but nothing obliges anyone to share anything at all.
What about very sensitive information?
The project does not aim to collect it. Sensitive material belongs in the organisation’s own private account, organised and access-controlled; keeping it there safely is part of what the tool is for. What the project seeks is general sector information: sites, operators, activities, conditions. That is the information that helps buyers and banks engage with the sector.
What is the goal of all this?
Investment and responsible procurement. Buyers, investors and banks want to engage with the Congolese mining sector, but they need credible local information to do it. When civil society holds and controls that information, engagement happens on its terms.
Who sees the data?
Only the partners an organisation shares it with. By default, records are visible to the owning organisation alone. The public search shows only basic profile information; anything more requires explicit agreement, partner by partner.
How else can organisations benefit?
Profile. Organisations that build a strong record become Nashiriki champions: visible to donors and partners, first in line when banks or buyers seek local insight, and well placed to find new projects. A Nashiriki profile is a living portfolio of an organisation's work.
Does it cost anything?
Nothing. The platform is free, participation is free, and there is no obligation at any point.
Take part
Registration is free and takes one session.
Information should remain under the governance of those who produce it.
Beyond this Challenge
Digitised local actors know their context better than any visiting team.
Every region already has its experts: the organisations that live and work there. The EPRM Challenge shows what happens when their knowledge is recognised and rewarded. Donors, buyers, researchers and public agencies can plan a challenge of their own on Nashiriki, and put local knowledge to work before commissioning another international investigation.
Plan a challenge