The Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) is creating a framework to mitigate security risks in Ghana's artisanal and small-scale mining sector. The framework focuses on community resilience, livelihood opportunities, and conflict prevention. According to Ms. Alessia Polidoro, West Africa Regional Manager of GCERF, mining-related challenges go beyond environmental degradation to include insecurity, instability, and conflict within communities.
Ms. Polidoro made these remarks during an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a two-day Regional Community of Practice gathering in Accra. The gathering brought together practitioners and policymakers to share experiences and identify collective responses to challenges in the mining sector. GCERF has spent about a year engaging stakeholders across Ghana's mining landscape to develop the framework, which aims to introduce a preventive security perspective into efforts to formalize artisanal and small-scale mining.
The framework will involve various stakeholders, including communities, national authorities, regional administrative authorities, traditional leaders, private-sector players, and others with roles in the mining sector. Ms. Polidoro emphasized that strengthening mining community resilience requires communities to be at the driving seat. GCERF began engaging in Ghana in late 2023, following the Ministry of National Security's involvement as a partner and member country.
GCERF has invested US$3 million in Ghana to support 11 civil society organizations working to address the economic, political, and civic drivers of radicalization and instability. Interventions include community awareness campaigns, dialogue, support for alternative economic opportunities for vulnerable groups, and capacity-building for traditional leaders and local authorities to prevent and manage conflicts.
The proposed mining-sector framework is part of broader efforts to strengthen community resilience and prevent violent extremism. The two-day gathering provided a platform for participants from Ghana and other countries to exchange experiences, build strategic partnerships, and identify practical actions to address security challenges associated with artisanal and small-scale mining.
Ms. Polidoro highlighted the importance of creating a space for dialogue and bridging the divide among actors that usually do not sit on the same table. This exchange allows for different perspectives on the same problem and the identification of common solutions. The framework aims to introduce a preventive security perspective into efforts to formalize artisanal and small-scale mining.
The GCERF's initiative is expected to have a positive impact on Ghana's mining sector, which has been plagued by insecurity, instability, and conflict. By engaging various stakeholders and introducing a preventive security perspective, GCERF hopes to mitigate risks and promote community resilience. The framework's development is a significant step towards addressing the complex challenges associated with artisanal and small-scale mining in Ghana.
Key points
- GCERF is developing a preventive framework to address security risks associated with artisanal and small-scale mining in Ghana.
- The framework focuses on community resilience, livelihood opportunities, and conflict prevention.
- GCERF has invested US$3 million in Ghana to support civil society organizations working to address the drivers of radicalization and instability.
