STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Accounting for gender concerns and optimizing gender equality returns in the minerals sector is clearly becoming a priority
- Most development organizations prioritize the “rights-based case” for gender integration although the “business case” is also becoming a priority
- The disconnect between these strategic interests may account for limited systemic progress towards gender equality across the mining sector
- A growing body of research, tools and methods is emerging without any clear vehicle for dissemination, dialogue and knowledge sharing
- Numerous minerals sector initiatives and key actors driving them have potential to substantively address or exacerbate gender inequalities
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring and working on gender and mining issues in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) as well as in the formal larger-scale mining (LSM) sector. Many international stakeholders have become active in this field, such as the World Bank, and UN Women in particular via its East and Southern Africa Office in Kenya. Also Dutch and international civil society organizations are working on different projects and initiatives of which some are financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Furthermore, at the EU level, MFA is noticing increased attention from Dutch private sector actors to sustainability in the mining sector, and MFA has been one of the initiators of the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM) agreement in line with the OECD Guidance for responsible sourcing.
From MFA’s point of view there is now momentum building and new opportunities for gender integration in mining and it has requested the Gender Resource Facility (GRF) to provide assistance. This quick scan report thus forms part of a larger GRF assignment to support MFA to prepare the ground for strategic integration of gender equality issues in mining. Other activities include a Learning and Sharing meeting on gender and mining for key organizations identified though the quick scan (organized in November 2016), an action plan for creating a community of practice and partnership between MFA and other key stakeholders as well as support to MFA’s integration of gender into the 2017 OECD Forum on Responsible Mineral Supply Chains.
An overview of key gender and mining actors has so far been lacking, which has made it difficult for like-minded organizations or actors committed to improve gender integration in mining and mineral supply chain work to learn from each other, access information and strengthen collaboration. This quick scan offers a general overview of the work of key actors engaged in gender and mining and falls is two parts: part one for the Netherlands and part two for international actors. The objectives of the quick scan are to:
- Prepare an inventory of key actors working on gender and mining in the Netherlands and internationally;
- Create an overview of the type of work done on gender and mining by key actors, where they are working, who they are partnering with, and what they have published in this area, if any;
- To identify the specific interests of the identified key actors on gender in mining; and
- For the Netherlands only, mobilize participants and identify themes to be addressed in thelearning and sharing meeting that forms part of the larger GRF assignment.
For the purposes of the quick scan a distinction is made between gender strategic work and gender integrated work. In gender strategic work engaging with gender concerns is the primary focus of the interventions or activities, while in gender integrated work consideration to gender concerns are integrated into interventions which have another principal focus, for example, nature conservation or value chains. In this quick scan, key actors in gender and mining are defined as organizations engaged in gender strategic work.
The full article can be found in the following link :
Quick Scan: Key Actors in Gender and Mining in the Netherlands and Internationally