A workshop in Solwezi, Zambia proved to be a great opportunity to share experiences on Participatory Environmental Monitoring (PEM) between delegates from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Zambia.
The event organized by the EGP Global Team and UNDP Zambia took place in the beginning of September 2025. It aimed to provide EGP implementing teams in each country with a deeper understanding of how to progress and adapt the PEM approach to their specific contexts. The newly developed PEM Checklist served as a foundational tool for this purpose.
Participants also had the opportunity to visit the FQM Copper Mine Sentinel in Kalumbila, which is collaborating as a PEM pilot project in Zambia.
At this stage, both Kenya and Zambia are just beginning their PEM implementation journey, while DR Congo is starting to ramp up its efforts. As a result, participants enjoyed learning from and sharing experiences with one another. Following the workshop, the work plans were refined, providing a clearer picture of the next steps ahead.
"The workshop in Zambia demonstrated the need for the industry, community and government working together and in unison for the success of PEM. A deep dive into the steps and pillars as outlined in the new PEM guide and checklist further provided experiences from different parts of the world with the intention of making the implementation approachable and more effective. The week’s insights also resulted in some very concrete plans for how we will carry on the work with PEM in Kenya”, says Zephania Ouma, Deputy Director Environmental Compliance, at the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) in Kenya.
Prior to the regional workshop, the global team and the UNDP Zambia focal point visited various partners and stakeholders in the mining sector in Lusaka. These included the Swedish Embassy, the EU Delegation, the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, the Forestry Department of the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment, and ZEMA.
They also had fruitful meetings with other important stakeholder such as the Finnish Embassy, the Human Rights Commission, and Caritas. These meetings culminated in concrete actions aimed at enhancing collaboration on responsible mining practices.