Somos Tesoro

From 2013 to 2021, Somos Tesoro worked to strategically reduce child labor in Colombian mining areas and improve health and safety in artisanal and small-scale mines. With its local partners, Alliance for Responsible Mining, Fondo Acción, and Fundación Mi Sangre, Pact used an integrated approach, addressing the many factors that lead to child labor, including economic instability, challenges in implementing public policies favoring child protection, and a lack of quality education in rural mining areas. The project focused on two geographic areas where families rely on mining for their livelihoods: the coal mining communities of Boyacá and the gold mining communities of Antioquia. Somos Tesoro decreased the numbers of children working in mines and benefited thousands of households. In addition to benefitting children and families vulnerable to child labor, the program helped adult miners, teachers, educational institutions, and local government. Somos Tesoro worked to strengthen schools, promote greater economic stability in mining families, apply labor and mining health and safety standards, strengthen child protection policies, and formalize artisanal mining in the two mining regions. The project developed a comprehensive livelihoods program, including savings and microfinance and increased opportunities to generate income and assets.