John E. Strongman Mining Adviser Oil, Gas, Mining and Chemicals Department The World Bank

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1 PNG - WOMEN IN MINING CONFERENCE - AN OVERVIEW John E. Strongman Mining Adviser Oil, Gas, Mining and Chemicals Department The World Bank The "Woman in Mining Voices for Change Conference" was held in Madang, Papua New Guinea from August 3-6, 2003, co-organized by the PNG Department of Mines and the World Bank, under the Mining Sector Institutional Strengthening Technical Assistance Project. There were about 180 participants of which about 150 were from PNG and 30 were international attendees from seventeen other countries, mostly in Asia and Africa, but also Europe and North America. Over 90% of the attendees were women. About 10% of the attendees came from the oil and gas sector in PNG. There was a strong attendance of women from the PNG mining communities which helped to make the conference very much a grass roots event which gave a voice to many women who had previously felt ignored. This meant that a lot of the women got to speak for themselves, but the inevitable consequence was that the discussion often went in unpredictable directions with a certain amount of strongly held local views taking center stage for a time. The grass roots element also meant that PNG issues tended to dominate the PNG/International balance. On the first evening of the Conference, a questionnaire was handed out asking the participants views on The negative impacts of mining on women. The positive impacts of mining on women. Over 75 responses were received. What stands out from the responses is the importance of social impacts. Over 67% of the respondents identified violence /alcoholism /prostitution /sexual abuse and social /family disruption as the most harmful negative impacts. Cultural /tradition degradation; environmental degradation; poor distribution of mining benefits; health deterioration; and lack of women s representatives in decision making processes were identified by about 40-50% On the positive side, nearly 80% identified improved access to education as the most positive benefit and over 60% identified employment opportunities; access to health services; and improved social /community services as major positive impacts. Empowerment of women and improved distribution of benefits to women were also identified as positive benefits (by 33% 35% of respondents). While the positive and negative impacts seemed equally balanced in the written replies to the questionnaire, the negative aspects of mining came to the forefront more frequently during the conference sessions. There were frequent references to the loss of the traditional authority structures at both the family and the village level in the PNG mining communities. Women also described situations where the new found employment and cash incomes resulted in men taking additional wives or divorcing and abandoning their families. Concerns about domestic violence were frequently raised and the loss of safety and security for women was a recurring theme.

2 Overall there was a sense of women being marginalized by mining projects in PNG a decline in women s status and the value of their work in the home and garden. This was especially true for those mining communities which have traditionally been matrilineal communities and where the women have seen there standing and authority diminish. There were also some strongly voiced concerns about environmental impacts especially loss of gardens and, in some areas, water pollution. Another recurring theme was concerns about the harm to communities when mines close and what land uses will follow after closure is complete. While many delegates expressed strong opposition, there were also many reference to the benefits of mining. Women saw mining providing enormous benefits in terms of education for school girls one of the projects reported that all school age girls were attending school in the community compared with about half in most PNG rural areas. At another project, there are now equal proportions of girls and boys at all levels of school. The companies have taken a number of steps to encourage the employment of women and the women from the mining communities also placed great store by the training and employment opportunities which had previously never existed for women in such communities. Great pride was taken in the fact that there were women who were operating heavy equipment in the mines along side the men. The companies have supported the establishment and operation of community Women's Associations and some have appointed officers with specific responsibilities for addressing gender issues and women s needs. The women from the mining communities at the conference also emphasized the pride and importance of women s projects that are being undertaken with funding from companies - while the costs are typically modest, they see the outcomes as especially important. One such example is the micro financing project of the Porgera Development Women's Association which has been supported by the provincial arms of the Department of Social Welfare and the Enga Provincial Administration. The women also reported very positively in terms of improved health services - one of the striking statistics presented at the conference was that child immunization is over 90% at Lihir compared with 50% nationally. With regard to Government engagement on gender issues, the PNG government has taken several important steps in setting national policies and legislation vis a vis gender issues and there have been a number of proactive initiatives by government to address issues such as domestic violence. Even so, implementation has reportedly been a challenge and many of the "grass roots" women attendees were not aware of their rights. The negative and positive impacts noted above strongly shaped the vision statement produced by the conference see the box. This was produced by a work group formed by the session Chairman with input from the delegates. While the Vision Statement addresses a vision that could well apply in any mining community in any region of the world, it is a statement which is authentic for this particular conference - which reflects a predominately PNG participation. But it could be a useful example for other conferences to build on and then produce their own - which will likely have some differences according to the predominant issues in the region where the conference takes place. Underlying the Vision Statement and the Conference discussions were four key themes, namely Social Empowerment for Women; Economic Empowerment for Women; Well-being Safety and

3 Security for Women; and Well-being Health and Education. Some of the key aspects are as follows Social Empowerment involves: greater recognition by company, government and community organizations for the key roles that women play in the life of mining communities inclusion of women's representatives in the initial negotiations between the investor, the government and the community that precede approval of the project inclusion of women's representatives in community-company steering committees or decision making bodies that may exist over the life of the project, including mine closure affirmative actions by government to ensure that women are well represented in the local administration including the local police force and judiciary Economic Empowerment involves inclusion of women s representatives in key decision making processes regarding the use and distribution of mining benefits received by the community affirmative actions by the mining company to increase the employment of women both directly and indirectly associated with the mine and to provide employment conditions that responds to women's needs (such as child care) provision of education and training courses to build women's skills o for participation in the decision making activities related to mining benefits o for direct and indirect employment associated with the mine o to establish and run cottage industries and small businesses Well-Being, Safety and Security involves information campaigns, counseling services and community-based interventions to reduce and eventually eliminate o domestic violence o community crime o alcohol abuse o drug abuse o the spread of HIV/AIDs Well-Being, Health and Education improved provision of health services to all in the community so that none are left out provision of education and training courses to build women's skills to effectively participate in the decision -making processes noted above and in the local administration and judiciary strengthening of environmental monitoring and enforcement capabilities involvement in decision making to stop environmental harm and taking place and clean it up when it has taken place The Conference brought out a striking contrast not only between the welfare of women in the PNG mining town sites compared with non-mining communities in PNG, but also compared with the experience of indigenous women in Australia and Fiji and women in mining communities in Africa. In fact, according to some of the international participants, women in PNG mining communities have been more successful in creating mining community conditions well ahead of conditions in Australian aboriginal communities, in Fijian mining communities and in many African mining communities. While there is still a long way to go in PNG, the international

4 participants helped bring out that much has been accomplished for women in PNG mining communities. The presentation on South Africa also brought out that mining communities are some of the highest risk areas for HIV/AIDs and that HIV/AIDs could become a serious threat to mining in PNG. The discussion also indicated that some of the South Africa mines are taking a proactive approach to HIV/AIDs issues and their approaches can help PNG mining companies develop strategies to manage HIV/AIDs. The discussion at the conference also brought out the fundamental underlying issue that mining can be a cause of deep cultural change and conflict in communities. This was well summarized by a speaker who described the situation at Lihir where women have been relatively successful in obtaining employment but this has resulted in them being caught between two cultures. She described many of the younger women as being faced with a difficult choice of on the one hand following the traditional life style of marriage, child rearing and garden tending or, on the other hand having to face opposition from family members as they embrace the modern life style of employment and personal freedoms that enable them to assert their independence. This illustrate a fundamental dilemma that occurs when mining takes place in a traditional society. The dilemma is that the preservation of traditional culture can also imply the preservation, among other things, of what many would characterize as outmoded gender roles. While the conference focus was to address gender issues in mining, it became clear that gender issues in mining are often a sub-set of gender issues in society at large. In fact, at this first event the mining and national issues were often merged together and it will be important for future events to separate out the mining-related and the national issues. The conference also pointed to the following actions that companies, governments and communities can take for the social and economic empowerment of women and improvements in their well being with the key group or groups to take the action identified in : Social Actions that can be taken by companies, governments and communities ensure that women are included in key decision making processes regarding miningcommunity relationships provide support for women to undertake leadership training build public awareness of the importance of gender issues among not only women but also men- as one speaker commented it is men, rather than the women, who need to be educated if there is to be a reduction in violence towards women. Actions that can be taken by companies undertake a needs assessment for women in the community provide gender-related training for development planners across a broad range of different sectors companies can partner with the Department of Social Welfare and Development to implement some pilot development projects address gender concerns including by establishing a gender desk (the Department of Mining). Actions that can be taken by governments make sure both women and men at the community level are aware of the rights of women

5 introduce stronger inter-agency linkages to help effectively implement gender policies implement affirmative actions to ensure women are well represented in local administrations including the police force and judiciary. Actions that can be taken by communities establish a Women s Association for new projects even before project approval so that the Association could give a voice to women s issues and concerns from a very early stage. set up an umbrella framework under which each mining area would develop an action plan to address four or five key initiatives such as gender; HIV/Aids; education; health; micro finance/banking services; and training in basic business skills for incomegenerating activities (Department of Mining and the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum) Economic Actions that can be taken by companies, governments and communities provide training opportunities so that women can start their own businesses and entrepreneurial activities. for new projects all stakeholders playing a role in devising improved arrangements for benefits distribution by setting up at time of project approval, transparent arrangements for managing compensation and other benefits and by building in audits and oversight arrangements. provide modest credit lines so that women can start their own businesses and entrepreneurial activities. Actions that can be taken by companies adopt and implement a fully fledged n Affirmative Action employment and training policy aimed at encouraging female participants in the workforce make sure that employment conditions respond to women's needs (such as maternity leave, child care, separate washing and toilet facilities etc.) set standards and targets regarding social issues and have independent audits to assess their performance It is perhaps noteworthy that fewer ideas seem to emerge regarding the role of communities than the role of companies and government and that there was a tendency to look to companies and governments to improve the standing of women in communities - rather than for communities to do his from within. This may reflect the traditional dominance of men in community affairs. It may also reflect in part communities failing to recognize the important influence that they can have in these matters. It may also reflect the fact that the organizational units of both companies and governments are easily identified, whereas communities are much more diffuse. The role of communities will be an area of important focus for follow up after the conference as well as for future conferences. In addition to these Conference Proceedings, a Conference Outcomes report is being prepared which will document the discussions. the findings of the questionnaires; the preparation of the vision statement and the main conclusions of the conference including recommendations for different stakeholders. Also, a video of the event is being prepared based on a video of the Proceedings that was taken by the National Culture Commission.

6 Finally, a commitment was made to hold a follow up conference in Madang in June 2005 (just prior to the completion of the World Bank Mining Technical Assistance Project) to assess progress that has been made at different projects and by different stakeholders regarding women s issues. Since the conference, the women from the various Government Departments who attended the event, together with representatives from some of the Women s Associations and some of the mining companies, have formed a Steering Group both to follow up on the Conference and to help prepare for the second Women in Mining Conference.

GENDER ISSUES IN ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING COMMUNITIES IN WAU/BULOLO AREAS OF MOROBE PROVINCE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE.

GENDER ISSUES IN ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING COMMUNITIES IN WAU/BULOLO AREAS OF MOROBE PROVINCE IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE. Jennifer Krimbu Morobe Consolidated Goldfields Ltd Paper