This study examines the ways in which unofficial cooperative practices hamper the effectiveness of official cooperative legislation as an expression of informal norms within mining cooperatives in South Kivu, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The study is based on interviews and the observation of the practices of small-scale miners when setting up and running their mining cooperatives. The study of the normative organisation of mining cooperatives can contribute to reflection on a participative reform of public policies in order to improve governance in the mining sector in the DRC.
