Developing Women in Mining Leadership Skills; The HakiMadinis' Approach.

Background

Tanzania is endowed with a vast and very valuable extractive resource industry consisting of forestry, petroleum and minerals. It is ranked fourth in terms of diversity and richness of mineral resources in Africa, after South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.  This includes a wide range of minerals from gold, diamond, colored stones, industrial minerals and gas. Tanzania mining sector is fast growing at an annual average of 10% since 1999 with an average 3% contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Mining development has both positive and negative impacts for communities in Tanzania. A growing body of evidence shows that, gender bias exists in the distribution of risks and benefits of mining projects. Benefits, which include employment, income, and compensation, typically accrue to men, and costs such as family/social breakdowns, cultural harm and environmental degradation, fall most heavily on women and children

Despite women significance in mining sector, women receive minimal attention by researchers, development programs and governments. Although there are  many studies in mining, there is rarely very little quantification of how mining impacts on women and children. There is no clear segregation of the benefits of the sector towards this unprivileged group.  Laws and policies provide no avenue for voices of women in the sector governance. Lack of different skills in mining, poor technology lack of access to information and strong and organized leadership limits women participation in policy reforms within mining debates  and processes

The Approach

HakiMadini is supporting women in mining through empowering   them to acquire practical technical different   skills and knowledge  to enable them to provide leadership to others on the issues that concern them. It seeks to motivate and groom women to believe in their personal abilities in order to catalyze change and to mobilize others to develop into a movement. Some of the approaches used to empower women includes  learning visit to likeminded organization, women leadership training, networking, field visits, parliamentary engagement and mentorship and coaching of women leaders.

General Overview

“Women in Mining Leadership Program”  seek to support women  leadership development in mining areas in four regions of Tanzania namely; Tanga, Singida,Manyara and Geita. The project aims at enhancing the quality of women participation and representation within the mining sector  focusing on three focal points in Mkinga, Simanjiro, Geita and Singida rural districts. These was  achieved through trainings, policy engagement initiatives, coaching and mentorship and  networking.

The engagement with women resulted into women group  formed into  street based daily savings and loan association supporting the women to grow financially. The groups become the nucleus of community organizing and mobilization, while the incentive being an issue that is pressing and immediate to them: ready cash. Natural leaders have  surfaced in the process expanding  from the group of fifteen women  trained by HakiMadini.

HakiMadini facilitated empowerment for the women through  linking and  throughout the program. The process helped in creating a democratic space providing opportunity for women to speak for themselves. This empowerment and learning has  enhanced community  conversation on the need for  open spaces and   greater participation of women in decision making positions in mining sector. Their acknowledgement in the communities and participation in community  structures has been  reported to have positive impacts in strengthening women movements in mining areas. The impacts of sharing and networking between women miners and other stakeholders has been evidenced in the increased women leadership roles in Mining Associations over the last 12 months.