IMPACT’s Foundations for Peace project aims to support a more responsible artisanal gold sector in Burkina Faso while increasing security in mining communities. The project will build peace by promoting women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion in artisanal gold mining communities. At the same time, it will build the capacity of local stakeholders to challenge illicit trade and incentivize the legal trade of artisanal gold.

How will Foundations for Peace improve the ability of women and men in Burkina Faso’s artisanal gold mining communities to contribute to stability and security in the sector?

Increase women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion by introducing AFECCOR in participating artisanal gold communities.

Conflict has a devastating effect on local economies and livelihoods. IMPACT’s AFECCOR program introduces Village Savings and Loans Associations to build local capacity for economic security in ASM communities. AFECCOR’s methodology is anchored in community dialogue and solidarity, serving as an entry point to local conflict resolution, while promoting women’s empowerment. The project will support the introduction of VSLAs to enhance financial inclusion and safely lessen miners’ dependence on predatory lenders of financing.

Enhance conditions to incentivize responsible and legal artisanal gold trade by women and men.

Many factors drive illicit trade of artisanal gold such as high taxes and fees, onerous export procedures, and significant administrative burdens. To address illicit trade all drivers must be understood, including how they are experienced by women and men differently. The full range of incentives for legal trade for both women and men along the supply chain must also be fully explored. The project will share this analysis with local authorities and build their capacity to effectively and equitably lessen these drivers of illicit artisanal gold trade in Burkina Faso. They will be supported to better leverage incentives to create an enabling environment for legal trade by women and men.

Improve enforcement strategies to decrease the influence of illicit artisanal gold traders and lenders who operate in the sector.

While creating an enabling environment to encourage legal artisanal gold trade, authorities must implement effective enforcement strategies to marginalize the worst offenders of illicit gold trading. The project will improve knowledge and capacity of local stakeholders on how best to tackle the criminal activities of the worst offenders in the artisanal gold sector, drawing on best practices and lessons from other country and regional contexts. The project will also examine the gendered implications of these controls to ensure that improved enforcement does not unintentionally translate into new barriers or security concerns for women operating in the sector, especially for women traders.

About AFECCOR

AFECCOR supports women and men in artisanal gold mining communities to access savings and credit in an effort to promote entrepreneurship and economic security. IMPACT first launched the project in Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern Ituri Province in 2017.  Learn more about how AFECCOR works and results.

Implementing partners

IMPACT is collaborating with the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) to implement Foundations for Peace.

Funding

Foundations for Peace is a two-year project which began in 2021. Foundations for Peace is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada