Geita, Tanzania, 10 November 2017 (ECA) – The African Minerals Development Center (AMDC) participated in the Tanzania ASM Action Dialogue organised by the Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) from 7 to 10 November 2017.
AMDC was a strategic collaborator with IIED and was among the key stakeholders invited in the Geita event. AMDC’s role was to engage with IIED on the way forward in Tanzania’s CMV processes with regards to ASM. It also allowed opportunities for collaboration on similar processes in countries requesting AMDC multi-lateral support in improving the ASM sector.
The Dialogue Week started with a two-day field trip aimed at enabling learning and experience sharing, followed immediately by a two-day workshop to scope a Tanzanian ASM Roadmap for reform and establish a Learning and Leadership Group (LLG). Eighty stakeholders took part in the meeting, with the representation ranging from ASM operators, the Vice-President’s office, ASM national and regional associations, women miners’ associations, large scale mining operators to civil society.
AMDC gave a presentation highlighting the complementarities and similarities between the ASM dialogues and the CMV processes. IIED’s ‘action’ dialogue programme drew inspiration from a 40-year track record in fostering participatory reform and policy change in mining, forestry and other sectors.
The dialogue answered key questions with discussions on the following themes: access to land and licenses; access to finance; access to technology and equipment; access to market; ASM and linked business development and scale up; and finally empowering women in and around ASM.
AMDC was able to share knowledge on how ASM dialogues were very much in-sync with the AMV and CMV processes. It was agreed that ASM dialogues processes are the strategic entry point to have CMV processes (re)engaged within Tanzania – especially for the ASM sector. The consensus was reached that in-country dialogue processes are needed to realize an inclusive, responsible and rights-based ASM sector that can contribute to sustainable livelihoods.
At the end of the dialogue participants agreed that the collaboration platform that now exists between IIED and AMDC may be leveraged as an entry point within ASM policy guidance implementation plans for those countries targeted by IIED.