Governance Challenges in Artisinal and Small-Scale Mining in West Africa
Lead Researcher: Dr Natalia Yakovleva (Alumni)
Partners: Dr J Andrew Grant, Queen's University, Canada;
Dr Frank Nyame, University of Ghana, Accra
Background
The artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector employs up to 4 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. The sector provides important source of non-farm income for unskilled and semi-skilled labourers and supports households in the conditions of high unemployment rates in rural Africa. The ASM sector also provides opportunities for local economic and business development via supporting a wide variety of petty-traders and merchants, and supplies much-needed foreign exchange and tax revenue for governments.
Although the ASM sector in an important component of the economy in many West African states, it tends to have a deleterious impact on the environment, human health and social unrest. Furthermore, ASM is linked with dangerous working conditions, unreliable remuneration, child labour, gender discrimination, and conflicts between illegal ASM operators and large-scale mining companies.
This research project analysed the extent to which multi-stakeholder regional governance initiatives can address the combined lack of state capacity and political will in order to promote human security and environmental sustainability in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector in two Commonwealth member states, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
Aims and Objectives
The research project aimed to analyse the extent to which regional governance initiatives can address the challenges of the ASM sector as means of promoting human security and environmental sustainability in the ASM sector in West Africa. Although it is clear that the combined lack of state capacity and political will stifles the economic potential of the ASM sector, a more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between regional governance and the promotion of human security and environmental sustainability is needed. If regulated properly, inclusively (with the input of civil society and industry), and on a regional basis (to avoid shifting similar problems to neighbouring countries), we expect that the ASM sector could improve employment levels in rural areas and augment the non-farm incomes of many rural households. This is an important first step toward lifting many rural communities out of poverty. To this end, four leading regional governance initiatives on mining were identified: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Compendium on Best Practices in Small-Scale Mining in Africa, the Kimberley Process (KP), and the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI). Researchers measured the impact of these four regional governance initiatives on the ASM gold and diamond sectors in two Commonwealth countries, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Research findings contributed to the scholarly and policy-oriented literature on improving governance, human security, and environmental sustainability in ASM and provided guidance for national and regional governance of the ASM sector in not only West Africa but other parts of Africa and the global South.
Methodology
This project relied on semi-structured personal interviews and participatory observations conducted in selected mining regions in Ghana (Akwatia) and Sierra Leone (Koidu-Tongo corridor). In order to better understand the intricacies of the underlying regional governance processes, the researchers interviewed individuals involved in regulating the regional, national, and local aspects of the ASM sector in these countries, such as officials from government regulatory agencies, NGO personnel, and people intimately involved in the extraction and trade of gold and diamonds, such as exporters, mineral traders, mining license-holders, tributors, chiefs, and miners.
Outputs
Nyame, F., Grant, J.A., Yakovleva, N. (2009) Perspectives on migration patterns in Ghana’s mining industry. Resources Policy, 34(1-2), pp. 6-11.
Nyame, F.K., Grant, J.A., Yakovleva, N. "Miners in motion: the political economy of migration in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector in Ghana", paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of African Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 4-7 May 2009.
Funding
The project was funded by the British Academy with Association of Commonwealth Universities under the scheme of International Collaboration 2007-2008.
