Based on information from Hivos we created a creative storyline evolving around the fact that this gold – which has been mined using child labor – is being touched by our hands every day. This led to the campaign title: ‘Goud in Handen’ (Gold in your Hands). To connect all stakeholders, we chose to split the campaign in three consecutive parts, each embodying its own creative approach. The first focused on creating awareness and addressing the social responsibility of the electronics branch. For the second phase we partnered with renowned Instagram photographer Eelco Roos to showcase the problem on social media. In the final phase we sent world-renowned photographer and publisher Jimmy Nelson to Uganda to highlight the solution: child-labour-free zones. The photos were exhibited for a month at the trendy concept store Hutspot.

We started by highlighting that the products we use every day probably contain gold that originates from child labor; with research agency SOMO, we created score cards showing the probability that gold mined using child labor was being used by smartphone companies. Second, we shared the problem of child labor in goldmines through mainstream and social media in cooperation with renowned Instagram photographer Eelco Roos. Roos traveled through Mali, and visited mines where child labor is currently taking place. In the final part the focus shifted towards the solution through a partnership with famous photographer Jimmy Nelson. He travelled through Uganda, making it his mission to capture the perspective of children living in child- labor-free zones. His photos were exhibited in the popular concept store Hutspot (Amsterdam) and in the Humanity House (The Hague). To complete the circle, Nelson’s photos are now on exhibition in Uganda.

Together the three parts of the campaign reached over 28 million people resulting in a cumulative PR value of € 2,200,000, creating great awareness for Hivos and its Stop Child Labor coalition. More than one hundred TV, radio, print, online and social media publications including the NOS (the Dutch BBC News), De Volkskrant (the Dutch Times) and The Guardian, to name a few, covered the campaign.

Currently, the petition urging the electronics industry to take responsibility to solve child labor in goldmines has been signed by over 11,000 people. In June 2017, the petition will be presented to the new Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. Since the campaign, 563 children have been saved from the goldmines in Gougouni (Mali), and are now attending school. Because of the close collaboration between Stop Childlabour and the local community, the number of children attending school has increased from 53.7% to 69.4%. Stop Childlabour, Good Electronics and Friends of the Earth, organized a convention for electronic companies, including Apple, Samsung and Philips, on responsible mining. We are now working on a project to eliminate child labor in goldmines with several of these companies and NGOs.