The Challenge

Artisanal and small-scale mining is a critical economic sector in low- and middle-income countries, employing an estimated 45 million people worldwide.¹ However, forced labor is prevalent in the sector, as workers often face coercive recruitment practices, hazardous working conditions, excessive hours, withheld wages, and barriers to leaving their employers. These challenges are particularly acute in Sierra Leone, where a recent study estimated child trafficking prevalence in the country's mining districts at 27-46 percent, with roughly 7 percent of child trafficking victims employed directly in mining work.²

Artisanal miners rely on informal lenders who charge high interest rates and engage in aggressive debt collection, creating significant pressure to limit labor costs. In addition, miners face limited oversight: states with limited regulatory capacity struggle to monitor labor conditions or enforce standards in the remote areas where (often informal) artisanal mining takes place.³ Despite the scale of these challenges, there is limited evidence on non-punitive interventions. This creates a pressing policy question: Can providing access to finance be used as an incentive for mining entrepreneurs to engage in ethical labor practices?

The Research

In partnership with IPA Sierra Leone, researchers are conducting an exploratory study to assess whether providing artisanal mine operators with access to low-interest loans—conditional on ethical labor practices—could reduce labor trafficking and exploitation.

The intervention takes place in gold mining regions surrounding Makeni.

Researchers will first work with government and local authorities to catalog artisanal gold mining operations, many of which are unlicensed. They will then conduct in-depth interviews with miners and workers to understand financing needs, recruitment methods, labor conditions, and compensation structures. The exploratory research will involve in-person surveys with 65 mining entrepreneurs and 130 workers across multiple sites, exploring economic well-being, credit access, production practices, and indicators of forced labor. The team will also convene five focus groups with mining entrepreneurs to co-design a loan product with appropriate terms, timing, and conditionality.

Results

Results will be available in 2026 and will inform a future randomized pilot evaluation.

Sources

^1. World Bank Press Release, “Achieving Sustainable and Inclusive ASM: A Renewed Framework for World Bank Engagement,” World Bank Group, September 20, 2024

^2. Okech, D., Clay-Warner, J., Balch, A., Callands, T., Yi, H., Cody, A., & Bolton, C. (2021). Child Trafficking and the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Sierra Leone: A Mixed Methods Study. Center for Human Trafficking Research & Outreach, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.

^3. Maconachie, Roy, and Felix Conteh. "Artisanal mining policy reforms, informality and challenges to the Sustainable Development Goals in Sierra Leone." Environmental Science & Policy 116 (2021): 38-46.

Network Movement for Justice and Development. The challenges characterizing Sierra Leone’s artisanal diamond mining sector and why the sector should be formalized. Network Movement for Justice and Development and Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, 2021. https://www.kpcivilsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/KPCSC_Grassroots_Research_Sierra-Leone.pdf