Women in the mining industry should not be victims, but rather, should be empowered actors of sustainable development.
Binta Nabe, Guinea National Coalition for Women's Rights and Citizenship (CONAG-DCF)
This quote summarizes the spirit overarching the launch of the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives (FCIL) funded project and implemented by Women In Mining (WIM) Guinea in partnership with Development Gateway. The project launch was held last week, on March 3rd in Conakry. This WIM Guinea initiative builds on our existing work in the extractives industry in Guinea. With partners, we will assess the involvement of women in disbursement of local economic development (FODEL) funds in the Boke region, and develop a digital tool to visualize the findings.
The Guinea Mining Code, Article 130 states that holders of a mining title have to pay an annual Local Development Contribution (LDC) to the impacted communes from their first commercial production, set to 0.5% of sales for category 1 substances (bauxite and iron) and 1% for other substances. Twenty percent of those funds should be allocated to women and youth. The main objective of the WIM Guinea’s initiative is to assess if women in the Boke region have benefited from FODEL funds and to understand the barriers women face in accessing and using those resources to promote their empowerment and contribute to the development of their communities.
Additionally, the WIM Guinea initiative aims to provide decision makers with the evidence needed to inform policies and strategies that would promote more women’s involvement in FODEL funds, and to inform development partners actions plan on tailored capacity building efforts to further empower women in the mining communities. The launch was opened by WIM Guinea’s President, Ms. Aissata Beavogui; Ministry of Mines General secretary, Mr. Mohamed Lamine Savané; and included the participation of Mrs Gabrielle Bilodeau, Canada’s second Secretary (Political and Public Affairs), the EITI National Secretariat and several civil society organizations currently working on issues of equity in the use of mining revenues in Guinea.
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Image courtesy of FlammeGuinee.com
