“I’m using this mandate,” Addo announces, like a seasoned politician, and starts ticking off her issues. Most of them are related to problems with water, funding for education, jobs for young people, and compensation for the damage and loss of land from a large gold mine established near Akatekyeso.
It’s a village of dirt paths, and cracked, crumbling, concrete structures. There is one well near the main road with a large group of women and children pumping water, filling buckets, and carrying them off.
“We had a hill over there,” Addo motions behind her home. “That was our water shed, but they blasted it and destroyed it. We had streams flowing out of it and there was no water scarcity. But it was all destroyed and now there is no water.” The mining company, AngloGold Ashanti, drilled two wells for the community, only one of which is currently functioning and now serves hundreds of people in the area.
To some, Addo may seem an unlikely leader: she’s a woman with little formal education. But she has the training and knowledge she needs to be effective, thanks to her work with the local human rights and environmental organization Wacam.
“Formerly, nobody consulted us,” Addo says of the mining company. “After we got training from Wacam, we understood our rights. Now they know if they want to work here they need to come and ask for our consent. Now they recognize we know our rights, and that is why they are respecting us.”
Addo is part of a growing group of village advocates in rural Ghana trained by Wacam that is bringing their concerns to companies and government bodies, and pushing for changes. Wacam has been building this network for 16 years, and it is now gathering momentum.
Addo is aware of her responsibilities to effect change, and knows she has to do it honestly. “I am always very concerned about the truth,” Addo says, walking down a path near her home. “Whatever I say, I investigate it, and double check to make sure I come out with the truth.”
Addo believes blasting rocks with explosives in nearby mine pits caused the cracks visible on so many of the buildings in Akatakyeso. She says the blasting near her home was quite violent: She was actually in her kitchen (a wood-frame shelter next to her home where she did all the cooking on an open fire) when it nearly collapsed on top of her and her family after one particularly large explosion. They just made it out from under its metal roof before the entire structure came down.
Even the best trained community representatives negotiating compensation from a mining company for blasting damage require hard, indisputable information and facts. Several hours to the north of Akatakyeso is a community called Dormaah Bypass, which worked with Wacam to close the information gap and get a commitment from another mining company, Newmont, which runs the Ahafo mine, to repair the community’s buildings.
Dormaah Bypass is just on the other side of the bypass road built for the excavation of Ahafo, less than a mile from the pit. Emmanuel Kuduah, 62, lives just off the bypass road, where he farms citrus fruit and leads a small evangelical church. “The main problem here is blasting,” he says, sitting in the shade of a tree outside his house. “The pit is so close, it is cracking our buildings, and in one case a building collapsed on someone and he died.”
A brief walk around Kuduah’s house, where he lives with his wife and eight children, showed more than a dozen cracked areas, many of which had been repaired. But some of the repairs were opening up again, and Kuduah says the continued blasting makes it look like some areas were never repaired.
Wacam’s trainers helped people from this community to hold meetings with Newmont to discuss the building damage but the company was reluctant to accept responsibility in all cases. The company did however offer to pay for an engineer to survey the buildings and make a recommendation.
Kuduah says Wacam warned villagers that an engineer hired and paid by Newmont might not be independent enough to make a fair analysis. Wacam recommended that the community members press Newmont to pay for the study, but to allow community members to pick the expert engineer. “Wacam helped us find an engineer. We held a meeting at the assembly hall to present the expert’s report, and that was when the company accepted responsibility for the cracks in the buildings and said they would repair them.”
Kuduah says this engineering study is just one of the ways Wacam has been able to help his community negotiate with Newmont. “They have consistently provided us with knowledge and ways to organize and lead our struggle, so we have the strategies and leadership we need. Whenever we have asked for ideas and knowledge, Wacam has helped us.”
]]>The main training is in Ghana’s Minerals and Mining Act, which accords citizen’s rights to fair, adequate, and prompt compensation for land lost to mines. Activists also learn how to monitor the negative environmental effects of mining, particularly pollution to water bodies by cyanide (used to separate gold from rocks), which is shockingly frequent in Ghana. “Wacam has carried out investigations in water bodies in mining communities,” says Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, while riding in a van from Ghana’s second city Kumasi to the capital Accra, just one of the scores of trips she makes every year to train local activists. “Out of the 400 water bodies we tested, 250 were polluted. We presented the report to the Environmental Protection Agency and they are doing an investigation. It also helped inform a recent assessment in which the EPA rated the mining companies, and all the mining companies in Ghana were scored poor or unsatisfactory.
“This has all emerged from the communities, where activists identify pollution sources, and we contract researchers to analyze the water bodies and come out with findings we present to the government.”
Informed communities now know what to do if they find dead fish in rivers and streams: collect and preserve samples to verify the presence of cyanide contamination, contact the Environmental Protection Agency, and negotiate compensation from the company responsible for the spill. Local activists are also trained how to communicate with the media, in cases where government and company responses to such accidents are slow or non-existent.
Oxfam also supports the legal aid organization the Center for Public Interest Law, (CEPIL), which assists communities pressing their grievances through the courts. CEPIL’s work has helped several communities get compensation for cyanide spills, including a $250,000 development fund from mining company Goldfields Ghana, agreed in an out-of-court settlement for the community of Abekoase in 2007. CEPIL is also helping plaintiffs in Dumasi press for compensation from Bogoso goldmines for a cyanide spill. This case has been in and out of court since 2004, and further delaying tactics by the defendant are trying the patience of community members.
It was in Dumasi where one of Wacam’s most energetic local activists emerged: Joanna Manu. Manu was one of the local farmers who learned about the cyanide spill in the nearby Aprepre Rriver in 2004, and went there immediately to collect dead fish and warn people not to touch or drink the water. She and her fellow activist Nii Anyetei pressed the case for compensation with the EPA and mining company.
Manu had also previously suffered the indignation of being arrested for farming her own lands, but successfully stood up in court and invoked the Minerals and Mining Act, pointing out to the judge that as she had received no compensation, the land did not belong to Bogoso . “I am farming that land still,” she told this writer in 2007.
In the meantime, Manu has pursued her studies, finishing high school in her mid-30s. She is now pursuing her ambition to become a member of Ghana’s parliament. She recently achieved a significant milestone on that road: she was elected to the District Assembly of the Western Region.
There’s a saying in the local Twi language in western Ghana, Adwem anu balofo tirmuI: knowledge is not only in the head of one person. “Wacam has taught me about the basic rights of people, their rights to own property, to information, to live as a human being. And that a leader has to listen to people, be humble before them, understand their issues, and that I have to have the courage, commitment, and confidence to represent them,” Manu says during a brief networking visit with other activists in the small city of Prestea, a gritty mining town near Dumasi.
For a community leader, especially a woman, to speak truth to power in Ghana, like many parts of Africa, is a challenge. Criticizing or challenging elders, or those in power, is risky – not only is it considered rude by many, it can lead to isolation. However in Ghana, there is a polite way to do this: one must seek permission to raise something publicly that might not be pleasant. This permission, called sebi, is a crucial way of working. “Wacam taught me how to do that,” Manu says.
In between villagers in her voting districts, Manu says she is setting her priorities for her work in the District Assembly. Chief among them is to ensure communities understand their rights in the face of industrial mining. “I know from my experience that when your land is taken from you, you will be jobless,” Manu says. “You will not get money to feed your family. I want the assembly to know about this so they will help people negotiate well, so they can get something for themselves.”
]]>Anwiam means “in the sand” in the local Twi language. Residents enter the village by passing over a set of railroad tracks separating it from a housing development built for the AngloGold Ashanti mining company staff, behind chain link and barbed wire fences. Anwiam has no electricity and little clean water. “If you compare the company residences with Anwiam, it is like apartheid,” says Hannah Owuso-Koranteng, who works at the human rights and environmental organization Wacam. “The rail line divides them.”
AngloGold Ashanti was blasting in nearby mine pit, and draining water, without any advance warning to the community. Amo says they used to blow a whistle just before blasting, signaling a sudden evacuation. Then, two years ago she and others from Anwiam started attending training sessions with Wacam. These problems, Amo says, were “a violation of our rights to live in a clean environment.” She says they learned that the company should consult them about a blasting schedule, and warn them about water outflows—and pay fair compensation for damages.
The training with Wacam was a real eye opener for Amo, who at first appears to be a very shy woman, concerned that she does not speak English well. But when she starts talking about the injustices she sees in her community, her face changes and she speaks rapidly and without much hesitation. “Now I can sit at the negotiation table and look the company representatives in the eye and tell them we think they should redress some of these issues, and that we should be compensated,” Amo says. “What they are doing is violating our rights, so they have to look at other ways of engaging us, so we can solve these things amicably.”
Stories of injustices like these, and local efforts to redress them, are becoming better known in Ghana thanks to a proliferation of grassroots activists trained by Wacam. Stories in the media abound: cyanide spills, homes damaged and destroyed by blasting, inadequate compensation, loss of farmlands and jobs and income, and involuntary relocation. “People are now questioning whether mining is a good development option for the country,” says Hannah Owusu-Koranteng. “And if we have to engage in mining, what are the methods we have to use?” She says questioning the role of mining in the economy used to be akin to treason, or a threat to national security. This started to change as Ghanaians have become more and more aware of the severe costs imposed by mining on local communities.
This has caused many to consider what mining is bringing to the country: Daniel Owusu-Koranteng points out that with such high prices for commodities like gold these days, mining is now bringing in about 40 percent of Ghana’s foreign exchange, more than exporting cocoa. However mining only contributes about six percent of Ghana’s GDP. “What accounts for this is high capital flight in the sector,” he says. The Minerals and Mining Act requires companies to pay between three and five percent of mineral revenue values, most pay three percent, a rate negotiated by some larger companies. Advocacy campaigns by Wacam and others are pushing this up to at least five percent.
The local activists trained by WACAM have played an important role in the national level debate about mining in Ghana. Each of them has had to take on new responsibilities and learn things about themselves in the process, as they work to improve their community and their country.
Philomena Addo, the subsistence farmer from Akatakyieso and recently elected village representative, is struggling to survive as she is taking on new leadership responsibilities. “We lost almost all our land to the mine. Now we have to go to other communities with land, and we are now share croppers,” she says outside her home. “There is just no land to cultivate here, the areas were all either destroyed or taken up by AngloGold for grazing cattle.”
Nevertheless, Addo says she has truth on her side, and is using her own personal transformation to seek a political solution to the problems in her community. “I used to be very timid,” she says “I would not discuss anything in public. Now I am more confident and I can speak at any level in public, at the community or national level.” She plans to push her agenda and serve her constituents: “It’s a privilege to win this confidence,” she says of her recent landslide victory at the polls.
]]>“This development demonstrates the commitment of the people to make Ghana a model of sustained democracy founded on transparency and accountability” said Mohammed Amin Adam, the convener of the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas. “Ghana has no doubt set one of the highest standards for transparency in the management of her petroleum revenues, judging by the provisions of this law.”
This law requires the country’s Minister of Finance to reconcile quarterly petroleum revenue receipts and expenditures and submit reports to the Parliament as well as publish the reports in the newspapers and online. The law also makes provision for four different types of audits of the petroleum accounts, namely, internal audits, external audits, annual audits, and special audits as well as the submission by the Minister of Finance of an annual report on the petroleum account and the Ghana Petroleum Funds as part of the annual presentation of the budget statement and economic policies to the Parliament.
Apart from providing for ample public access to information on petroleum industry operations, the law provides for the establishment of a Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) – a public-oriented body that oversees the management of petroleum revenues. This is in Clause 53 of the Law that proved highly contentious and one of the major talking points during the parliamentary debate on the bill. In November 2010, the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas issued a press statement and presented a petition to the Parliament when there was an attempt by the legislative body to amend the bill. The press statement read: “It has become worrisome that the members of the Joint Select Parliamentary Committees on Energy and Mines and Finance have proposed amendments to and deletion of some sections of the provisions for transparency, especially those that are critical for effective public oversight by the proposed PIAC.”
Passage of the bill is seen as a triumph for civil society activism. “Despite the delay in passing the bill, I would like to congratulate the entire civil society and the parliament for a job well done, especially by ensuring that all the transparency provisions were agreed upon by both sides of the house,” said Richard Hato-Kuevor, the Extractive Industries Advocacy Officer for Oxfam America. “Now that the bill has been passed, we hope the relevant structures would be put in place as quickly as possible to manage the revenues that will accrue to the state from the sector.” This position was corroborated by Adam. “It is refreshing that the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill which has now been passed addresses most of the transparency concerns of the citizens. Citizens now have the legal basis to demand transparency and accountability,” he said. In Zeba’s opinion, “This should not be restricted to oil and gas. It should be extended to all the extractive resources of Ghana, including industrial fishing, timber, and mining industries, and Ghana should champion this cause in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).”
The monitoring role of civil society is not finished, however. “Citizens must remain perpetually vigilant in spite of all the assurances in the bill and by the President of the Republic to transparently and honestly manage the petroleum resources,” concluded Adam.
]]>The president of the ECOWAS Commission James Victor Gbeho had during the Second Ministerial Meeting on the region’s Mineral Development Policy held in October last year in Monrovia, Liberia set up a 10-member ad-hoc committee to monitor the adoption and implementation of the directive by member states.
“We are supportive of the entire ECOWAS process in this regard and call on all other West African countries to comply” said Eva Kouka, Oxfam America’s Extractive Industries Program Officer for the West African Regional Office. “We expect the regional body to adopt the Regional mining Policy later this year, and by 2014 the Regional Mining Code.”
“This a major step forward for protecting the rights of affected communities in Ghana, where mining is so important economically and where communities have suffered such severe impacts” said Keith Slack, Extractive Industries Campaign Program Manager of Oxfam America.
The Directive which was enacted by the 62nd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers held in Abuja, Nigeria in May 2009 places obligations on the mining companies to respect the rights of local communities. It provides, among others, in article 16, that “companies shall obtain free, prior and informed consent of local communities before exploration begins and prior to each subsequent phase of mining and post-mining operations; maintain consultations and negotiations on important decisions affecting local communities throughout the mining cycle”. Apart from the protection of the rights of the communities, the directive also aims at environmental protection and transparency and accountability in the mining sector.
“I would like to congratulate the government of Ghana for adopting this directive” said Richard Hato-Kuevor, Oxfam America’s Extractive Industries advocacy officer in Ghana. “Even though this is a bold step on the part of the government, I hope it is not the end. Measures should be put in place to ensure that these laudable principles are enshrined in our mining code for the benefit of all, especially communities affected by mining”.
Mass poverty in West Africa starkly contradicts the abundance natural resources including highly priced minerals. Oxfam America has been working in tandem with some local organizations in the region to ensure transparency and accountability and the protection of human rights in the operations of extractive industries. Recently, civil society organizations in Ghana under the umbrella of The Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas issued a statement raising concerns about the intention of some interests in the legislature to amend some key clauses in the proposed Petroleum Revenue Management Bill 2010 that provides for a citizens-based transparency and accountability framework for ensuring transparent management of petroleum revenues. “We are disturbed about the absence of transparency provisions in the bill especially as regards bidding process for oil blocs” said Mohammed Amin Adam, the convener of the group.
As the bill is being voted, Oxfam America and its partners in Ghana expect the legislature in the country to complement their efforts in ensuring the existence of the necessary legal framework for good governance in the extractive industries.
]]>This is an important step in the on-going effort by the ECOWAS member nations to adopt a uniform policy that will standardize the social, environmental, and financial requirements for mines in West Africa. Oxfam America has encouraged this effort because it will require mining companies to obtain the consent of local communities before mines can be established or expanded, and give communities a meaningful role in decisions. After member countries revise their laws, mines will have to comply with more stringent requirements for the environment, and financial transparency.
The committee will also make recommendations on measures to be taken for the effective implementation of the directive and also ensure that it is published in the National Gazette of member-states, a way for the government to show an official commitment to the directive. Senegal has taken the lead by remaining the only member-state to have published it in the National Gazette.
In the same vein, ministers responsible for mineral resources development in the region have recommended the establishment of a permanent forum to deal with matters affecting the mineral sector. This is a major decision at a recent one-day meeting of ministers know as ECOWAS Minerals and Oil Forum (ECOMOF).
Commenting on these developments, Oxfam America’s Coordinator for Extractive Industries Program at its West Africa Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal, Ibrahima Aidara commends ECOWAS for the laudable initiative but decried the lack of adequate representation of civil society organizations.
“ECOWAS should widen the scope of consultation to all stakeholders including civil society organizations and representatives of mineral-bearing communities to make public policy formulation more participatory, inclusive, and democratic,” he says. “This will guarantee the protection of the rights of the communities and individuals directly affected by the activities of the extractive industries in the region.”
West Africa is replete with a rich diversity of mineral resources, but weak governance structures, corruption, injustice, and political instability have conspired to leave the vast majority among the poorest in the world. The president of the commission, James Victor Gbeho, says the ECOWS directive will have significant effects: “It is necessary to introduce norms and standards that would ensure, at once, the protection of the environment, social impact, harmonious labor relations, sustainable community development plans, and equitable land rights regime and transparent management of natural resources.”
Oxfam America through its Extractive Industries Program and working with its partners has been at the forefront of pushing for reforms in the extractive industries sector in the region to ensure the protection of human rights and the reduction of poverty.
]]>The company previously had lost a court case to Manu when she was accused of trespassing onto what she explained was her own farm land. After hearing of her complaints over the loss of her palm tree, the company immediately opted to negotiate paid compensation rather than defend itself in a messy court case.
In a community where many facing situations such as Manu’s would have resigned to fate, it is seen as a triumph for human rights awareness and activism for Manu to insist on adequate compensation. She negotiated for and actually got paid the sum of 500 Ghanaian Cedi (about $350) for her loss. This is the highest sum ever paid as compensation for the loss of any crop in Ghana.
“The company knows that I know my rights and so they are very careful when dealing with me,” said Manu.
Ghana’s chamber of mines, an association of mining companies, generally sets levels of compensation in such cases. Normally, this body recommends payment of five Ghanaian Cedi (about $3) for a palm tree.
Instead, Manu demonstrated that palm trees are very important to the livelihoods of the people of Dumase because of their multiple uses—namely they produce palm oil, palm kernels, sponges, brooms, palm wine, and palm fronds.
“We have a cause to fight for and a goal to achieve,” says Manu. “Sometimes people are not happy with what you are trying to achieve, but you shouldn’t let opposition stop you.”
Ghana, like most of West African countries, is home to abundant mineral resources. But this has not reflected on the lives of the vast majority of people who remain poor. Oxfam America has been working through its partners like the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) in Dumase and other communities to enlighten and empower local people to assert their rights when interacting with mining companies.
“Manu has, in fact, fought against the injustice of miners and their Compensation Committee,” says Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, the Executive Director of WACAM. “She upheld her right in line with the provisions of the Mining Act.”
Manu is one the beneficiaries of WACAM’s training programs and regularly puts her newfound knowledge to good use.
“It’s important to empower women in mineral-bearing communities so that they can gain skills, confidence and the ability to make decisions about their lives,” says Eva Kouka-Quenum, Oxfam America’s West Africa Extractive Industries Program Officer.
]]>The media in Ghana are reporting that representatives of all the main political parties in Parliament are sufficiently concerned about the anticipated $1 billion in additional revenue in 2010 that they issued a communiqué calling for the government to stop issuing any new licenses for oil production until it can improve its regulations for the oil industry and clarify how the money will be managed.
An article in the government-owned Daily Graphic newspaper said that the members of Parliament “argued that less than one year before the drilling of the country’s oil in commercial quantities, there was not a single law before Parliament on how the country would manage the oil fields and the expected revenue as well as how to ensure that the environment was not damaged by the companies.”
The communiqué urged the government to use oil money to diversify its economy, and avoid an over reliance on oil that has been so disastrous in other countries in Africa. The communiqué also pointed out that Ghana needs to beef up its tax revenue agency to ensure oil taxes are properly collected and available for social programs to benefits its citizens. The members of Parliament called for the government to use 80 percent of oil funds to improve the “physical and social infrastructure” of the country, save 10 percent for future needs, and use the other 10 percent for stabilizing the budget.
In early 2009 Oxfam America and the Integrated Social Development Center of Ghana (ISODEC) issued a report called Ghana’s Big Test that recommended the country halt new licenses and disclose details of licenses and agreements it makes with oil companies as a means to increase transparency. Following the release of this report, Ghana’s new president John Atta Mills committed to do this, and also said the country would take steps to promote new and better regulations and foster open and public procedures for issuing licenses and setting policies.
To date, the government has not followed through on its commitments to disclose petroleum agreements, despite continued calls from civil society and parliamentarians to do so. Oxfam partner organization ISODEC has continued to promote opportunities to implement recommendations from the report. Steve Manteaw, campaigns coordinator at ISODEC, says that, “Ghana must control the pace of petroleum sector development so that it does not outstrip the capacity of the government and society to build institutions, regulations and standards.”
“The communiqué issued by the members of Parliament, cutting across Ghana’s political spectrum, emphasizes the importance of transparency and responsible management of oil revenues,” says Ian Gary, Oxfam America’s senior policy advisor and author of the Ghana’s Big Test report. “It will be vital for the government to fully consult with members of Parliament and the public at large on the legal framework for regulating the sector and managing revenues so that strong safeguards are in place before oil starts to flow.”
]]>But a hungry child exists in a larger context: if we nourish communities, they can nourish their own children.
The woman on our cover, Fatou Doumbia, and other women in her village in Mali, pooled their resources last year. They set aside nearly a ton of millet as a defense against the hunger they’d seen as food prices spiked. Hers is another face of hunger: determined, resourceful.
After the last harvest, Oxfam reached out to supporters to respond to the food crisis. We’ve devoted much of this issue to looking at what communities have done to avoid the kinds of hardships they confronted. When people living in poverty are hit by a food crisis or natural disaster, they lack resources to tide them over.
Oxfam works to help people build their resilience. Let respect and hope fuel your efforts to support women like Doumbia.
]]>"President Obama's historic visit to Ghana, so early in his presidency and on the heels of important commitments at the G8 in Italy, signals the importance of African development to US interests," said Raymond Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. "President Obama gets it. He understands that without a strong civil society, and capable, transparent governance, efforts to fight poverty and bring about social justice in Africa will at best be incremental. Good governance and sustainable use of resources will inspire more effective international assistance and increase trade."
President Obama had several recommendations that will help Africa on the road to prosperity. Here are a few of the highlights from the speech:
"In the 21st century, capable, reliable, and transparent institutions are the key to success—strong parliaments; honest police forces; independent judges; an independent press; a vibrant private sector; a civil society. Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in people's everyday lives." These are all important parts of a thriving democracy, and President Obama made clear in his speech that these should be a priority in Africa just as they should be on every other continent. Building strong institutions that protect the rights of citizens, and allow business and entrepreneurs to flourish, will encourage investment in Africa. Oxfam is focused on helping civil society organizations work to hold their governments accountable. Examples include our partnerships with groups promoting new laws that accord equal rights to women and girls in southern Africa, and a region-wide proposal for uniform laws governing the mining industry in West Africa.
"So in Ghana, for instance, oil brings great opportunities, and you have been very responsible in preparing for new revenue. But as so many Ghanaians know, oil cannot simply become the new cocoa... Dependence on commodities—or a single export—has a tendency to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few, and leaves people too vulnerable to downturns." Resources like gold, diamonds, and oil can bring enormous wealth and potential for development. The road to prosperity will require leaders to avoid the path of poor management, corruption, violence and war. Ghana is a promising example of what is possible: Since Ghana discovered oil near its coast, the country's President John Atta Mills pledged earlier this year to disclose all petroleum agreements, so citizens can track what money comes to the government and how revenues are spent. This pledge has not yet been turned into reality. Real transparency needs to be built into a new legislative framework for how Ghana's new oil wealth will be managed, to ensure revenues are spent on social services and poverty reduction. Oxfam is working with the US Congress on legislation to require all US and foreign companies subject to Securities and Exchange Commission rules to disclose payments to developing country governments. This will be a critically important tool for citizens working to avoid corruption and waste of natural resource revenues.
President Obama also highlighted steps that the US would take to help combat corruption, including addressing corruption in the annual State Department human rights report, a recommendation that was made by Oxfam America in its Presidential transition memos.
"Aid is not an end in itself. The purpose of foreign assistance must be creating the conditions where it's no longer needed." The United States needs to make a number of key reforms to make our foreign aid system as effective as possible in reducing poverty and creating prosperous communities throughout the developing world. The US lacks a coherent strategy for global development. Oxfam is calling on the US to keep recipient country governments and their public informed on the nature and amount of American aid, and let each recipient country lead its own development agenda. President Obama's focus on using aid to defeat poverty is on the right track—one that we hope will lead to a new strategy for global development and a reinvigorated, effective aid system that will also rebuild US leadership in the world.
"A warming planet will spread disease, shrink water resources, and deplete crops, creating conditions that produce more famine and more conflict." Climate change is already affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor people in Africa, as a recent Oxfam report detailed. Tackling these impacts is essential to addressing food security and broader development objectives. President Obama must commit to help bring about a comprehensive global climate strategy that will help poor communities cope with failed crops, dwindling reserves of clean water, and displacement caused by extreme weather events. The US and other wealthier countries must curb their greenhouse gas emissions to prevent climate chaos and provide adequate financial assistance to help African countries adapt in greener and more sustainable ways.
"Now, America can also do more to promote trade and investment." The economic welfare of Americans is inextricably linked with the well-being of people across the globe. While our foreign policy seeks to address the problems of poverty, disease and lack of economic opportunity, our trade policy has often exacerbated them, by demanding greater access to export markets in the poor countries, more favorable rules for US investors that can lead to greater poverty and inequality, and limiting access to affordable medicines. President Obama must develop a new trade policy with economic development as a core objective, spreading the benefits of trade as widely as possible, in the developing world as well as in the United States. This must include focusing efforts on the multilateral trading system to achieve a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round, while working with Congress to pass legislation providing for duty-free and quota-free market access for all Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
]]>"Much like the Cairo speech, we are hoping the Accra speech will signal a new era of engagement, respect and partnership with Africa," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. "This historic visit, so early in his presidency and on the heels of important commitments at the G8 in Italy, signals the importance President Obama places on African development."
Millions of Africans live in extreme poverty, and are now hit hard by the global economic and climate crisis. Sub-Saharan Africa alone is expecting losses of up to $245 billion this year as a result of the global slump, which is almost seven times the amount it receives in global aid. In Ghana, a resource-rich country, the life expectancy is a mere 58 years and 70% of people in the poor northern regions live on less than $1 a day. Despite the economic crisis, Africa continues to attract large investments to extract the riches that lie below ground, producing billions in government revenues. By 2015, oil revenues in African oil-exporting countries will exceed the amount needed to meet key social development goals by $35 billion annually—but investing this money wisely is not a sure thing.
"Africa is rich in natural resources like gold, diamonds and oil, but, too often, these resources have contributed to corruption, conflict, and human rights abuses," said Offenheiser. "But important progress can be made to turn this around. President Obama can help by supporting increased transparency and the disclosure of payments from US and other companies to African governments to help ensure responsible use of billions of dollars of government revenues per year."
Oxfam praised Ghana's recent commitment to transparency in the country's nascent oil sector and urged President Obama to encourage the government to follow through on these commitments and encourage other African governments to follow the positive steps the Ghanaian government has taken to date.
Oxfam also noted that key reforms are needed to make the US foreign aid system as effective as possible in reducing poverty and creating prosperous communities throughout the developing world. The US currently lacks a coherent assistance strategy for many of the countries it is trying to help. Oxfam is calling on the US to keep recipient country governments and their public informed on the nature and amount of American aid, help the recipient country to manage its own development, and ultimately, let each recipient country lead its own development agenda.
"American generosity is undermined by a reactive approach that prioritizes relief efforts—like food aid—that saves lives, but doesn't address underlying causes of poverty and hunger," said Offenheiser. "If the US wants to use its aid consistently help the poor in countries such as Ghana, it needs a global development strategy to guide the US government's efforts to fight poverty."
Climate change is already impacting the lives and livelihoods of millions of poor people in Africa, as a recent Oxfam report details. Tackling these impacts is essential to addressing food security and broader development objectives. President Obama must commit to help bring about a comprehensive global climate strategy that will help poor communities cope with the impacts of global warming, from failed crops to dwindling reserves of clean water and displacement caused by extreme weather events.
"Global hunger and poverty is a human tragedy exacerbated by faltering investments in agricultural production and the growing impacts of climate change," said Offenheiser. "We are pleased to see President Obama follow through on his commitments to reassert US leadership and address the challenges facing the billion people around the world without enough food."
]]>West African countries produce millions of ounces of gold each year, but the region is one of the poorest in the world. Provisions set forth in a directive issued by the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) create a basis for helping communities ensure that mining revenues will be used in ways that will reduce poverty, and that they enjoy some of the benefits of wealth produced by mining—instead of simply enduring the costs in terms of pollution, and loss of farm lands. Uniform standards across the region will help prevent destructive competition for foreign investment that force governments to relax environmental and financial standards.
Richard Ellimah, from Obuasi, Ghana, says the new mining directive is "probably the most audacious attempt by the sub regional body to address concerns of mining-affected communities... We are looking forward to using the directive to demand respect for human rights, and freedom of information."
Campaign activities during the week of action will take place in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Nigeria, and Mali, and will include debates and information workshops to teach people in communities affected by mining about the principles in the ECOWAS mining directive. Top among those principles is free, prior, and informed consent, which will give people the right to say whether—and under what terms—mining can be carried out in their community. Civil society organizations will reach out to the press, holding information workshops for the media and interested environmental and social organizations. Organizations also plan to contact their legislatures and mining ministries to ask them to change their regulations to comply with the ECOWAS directive on mining.
Six allied organizations held a press conference following the workshop and released a statement calling on the government to revoke permits it granted Newmont Mining of Denver to explore for gold in the Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve. "When government revokes the Environmental Permit to mine in Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve it would demonstrate its preparedness to define forest reserves as 'No Go Zones' for mining," the statement says.
"This campaign is the next phase of the movement towards an increased citizens' participation in public policy making and better governance and regulation in the mining sector in West Africa," says Ibrahima Aidara, Oxfam America's lead expert on extractive industries in West Africa.
]]>Last month, Newmont released the results of an independent review, which provides information about the company's community relationships and important recommendations for improving operations on the ground. The review, the first of its kind by a major mining company, came at the request of shareholders, led by New York-based Christian Brothers Investment Services, concerned about protests and environmental problems at Newmont's mining projects around the world. The company will formally present the results of the report to shareholders at the annual meeting.
"We commend Newmont for conducting a critical assessment of their community relationships. As shareholders gather this week, plans for urgent action to improve relations with the communities living near its operations should be at the top of the agenda," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.
Recommendations from the report include handling community conflicts at an earlier stage, holding management accountable for community relations, and establishing effective grievance processes at all sites. The report indentifies problems with Newmont's community interaction at several locations, including sites in Ghana and Peru.
Nearly 10,000 villagers, mainly poor farmers, were displaced by the Newmont's Ahafo mine in Ghana. The report identified the long-term success of the resettlement as one of the greatest risks confronting the project and called on Newmont to actively monitor the implementation of resettlement. Newmont and the World Bank (IFC) will be conducting an audit of the resettlement program this year. Oxfam urges Newmont to make the audit process transparent and participatory.
Newmont's Yanacocha mine in Peru has been the site of repeated protests and violence in recent years. In 2007, local mining activists were the targets of harassments and death threats.
"The report identified an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among local residents at the Yanacocha mine, who worry about speaking out against the company out of fear of harassment by the mine's security forces," said Offenheiser. "It is very troubling that people are afraid to peacefully express their concerns. Newmont must address this situation immediately."
Communities affected by mining projects should have a role in decision-making about how the project will affect their lands and livelihoods. The report recommends an action plan that includes clarification of Newmont's commitment to the principle of free, prior and informed consent for communities.
"Newmont's endorsement of the principle of free, prior and informed consent for communities would be an important step forward," said Offenheiser. "The key now is to engage with local communities and apply this principle to company practice. We are pleased that Newmont's board of directors has accepted the report's analysis and recommendations and directed management to engage with affected communities on the report's findings."
The Newmont report also highlighted community concern about lack of access to information about the revenues the company pays to local and national governments, leaving communities unable to hold their governments accountable for how mining revenues are used.
"Newmont has been a leader in committing to greater transparency and can help address community concerns about revenue sharing by recommitting to disclose all payments made to host governments," said Offenheiser. "Endorsing mandatory public disclosure policies like the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act would be an important first step."
Oxfam advocated passage of the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act, legislation that would require all mining, oil, and gas companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose the payments made to foreign governments. The bill, which was introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) in the 110th Congress, is expected to be reintroduced shortly.
]]>"Adopting a regional mining policy directive is an important first step toward strengthening regional protections for the basic rights and livelihoods of mining-affected communities in West Africa and ensuring that these countries' mineral resources contribute to their sustainable development," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America.
Ministers from 11 West African countries met on April 17 in Abuja, Nigeria to review a draft mining directive that covers a broad range of financial, social and environmental issues relating to the industry. The draft was developed by the ECOWAS Commission with input from government officials, civil society organizations, and communities affected by mining.
Revenues from the mining industry form an important part of the economies of many West African countries. However, these revenues do not always translate into benefits for citizens. For example, Ghana is the second-largest gold producer in Africa—producing 2.5 million ounces of gold in 2007—but nearly 80 percent of Ghanaians are living on less than $2 per day.
The ECOWAS member countries currently have individual mining policies, but the need for foreign investment often leads to competition by offering tax reductions and exemptions, which deprives countries of sustainable benefits. A strong common policy is needed to ensure that the mining industry respects the rights of local communities and the environment and contributes to sustainable development.
"Oxfam is particularly encouraged by the mining directive's clear provisions for the protection of the human rights of local communities. This includes their right to free, prior and informed consent, which gives communities a meaningful role in decision-making about mining projects that would affect them," said Offenheiser. "We also applaud the directive's support for the disclosure of financial and environmental information relating to the mining sector."
Too often, mining industry contracts and revenues are kept secret. This lack of accountability facilitates embezzlement, corruption and revenue misappropriation leading to the industry's failure to alleviate poverty in West African countries. Measures to improve transparency in the directive will go a long way to inform the public about mining revenues. This will enable communities to hold governments accountable for using revenues to support vital services like healthcare and education.
However, the directive does not cover all the critical issues relating to the impacts of mining on affected communities. In particular, Oxfam believes the environmental protections can and should be further strengthened.
"Oxfam calls on the ECOWAS member states to engage with relevant stakeholders, particularly civil society and affected communities, to work to implement the directive and further strengthen legal provisions to increase transparency and protection of human rights and the environment," said Offenheiser.
Back in 2007, ECOWAS requested Oxfam America's involvement based on the organization's experience and expertise in the mining sector. Throughout the process, Oxfam worked to facilitate civil society's participation in the formation of the mining directive. More than 50 West African civil society organizations from 11 countries joined and participated in the formulation process.
]]>This decision, reported by the Ghana News Agency, comes a week after the release of a report by Oxfam America and its local partner, the Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC), on the challenges posed by Ghana's coming oil boom. The report, Ghana's Big Test: Oil's Challenge to Democratic Development, recommends, among other things: transparency of payments from oil companies to governments as well as disclosure of all petroleum agreements; open and competitive licensing procedures for oil and gas blocks; the active participation of civil society; and the establishment of an appropriate legal and institutional framework for the industry.
"This commitment by the government should be commended. In too many countries, petroleum agreements governing the sale of public resources have been kept secret. The new administration should build on this step to increase openness for more citizen participation in the formulation of public policy. In the case of oil, participation on the part of the people and of civil society has thus far been limited," said Ibrahima Aïdara, coordinator of the Extractive Industries Program in Oxfam's West Africa Regional Office based in Dakar, Senegal. "In addition to ensuring full transparency and public participation in the oil and gas sector, the government should also take steps to improve the management of the gold mining sector."
Steve Manteaw, media and campaigns coordinator for ISODEC, said: "President Mills has taken an important step to preserve Ghana's record of good governance and stability by preparing Ghana to support accountable and efficient development of the oil industry and the billions in government revenue it will generate."
The International Monetary Fund has predicted that government revenues from oil (producing approximately 120,000 barrels a day by 2011) and gas could reach a cumulative $20 billion over a production period of 2012-2030 in Jubilee field alone. The field gets its name from the discovery of oil there at the time of Ghana's 50th anniversary as a nation.
The Ghanaian president's commitment is in line with the objectives of Oxfam America's Right to Know, Right to Decide campaign focusing on greater transparency and the right of communities to have a say over how and whether oil, gas, and mining projects go forward. The emphasis on transparency and public participation is also a cornerstone of Oxfam America's efforts to increase public and civil society participation in the development of a regional mining convention being developed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Since last year, ECOWAS has been in the process of developing a mining convention that would promote common social, environmental, and transparency standards in the mining region across West Africa. Civil society is participating actively in the process and is ensuring that the concerns of the citizens, especially communities near mining projects, are taken into account.
"The new government in Ghana has a chance to take a fresh look both at preparations for the oil boom as well as the historical legacy of increased conflict and social and environmental impacts from gold mining production. The agenda for reform is both broad and deep, but the commitments by the new president are an important step in the right direction," said Aidara.
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