As we remember our dearly departed colleague, Jonah Mngola, we are excited to publish his report on Artisanal Small Scale Miners, who represented his life’s mission. In this step, we also worked with opinion leaders in Taita Taveta, Migori, Vihiga and Kakamega to identify and get basic data on their membership – demographics, alternative occupations…
Read article
I am told, I am the first woman to get inside a gold mine in Vihiga county, Kenya. In many parts of the world, women are not allowed to go anywhere near a mine because it’s believed that mining sites are men's territories, so women are responsible for removing gold from the soil after the actual mining process. Women are kept away from the mine shafts; dark, dusty, claustrophobia-inducing holes that usually go almost a Kilometre into the earth. “It is not safe for a woman to go down there. It is just not done."
Read article
What a year this has been! For many of us, this year has been an unparalleled horror show one that will not easily be forgotten. For us, this has been a pivotal year – one of the most interesting complexities. On the one hand, 2020 was billed to be the year that we move to…
Read article
In a small team, just like in a family, the loss of one member is felt in a huge way. Today, our family mourns the loss of one of our own: Jonah Mngola. Jonah was passionate about the artisanal small scale mining (ASM) community, and as our Open Extractives Program Lead, he spearheaded the process…
Read article
In all mining areas, we found that mining work, in general, is gender-segregated – women will not go down a mine shaft to do the actual mining. In most areas, women are only limited to working on sorting the gravel that makes up the crumbs of the mining exercise. The men, who went into the…
Read article
In the last few weeks, we have travelled to different parts of Kenya to meet with artisan miners and listen to them tell us about their circumstances. We wanted to hear from them how they exercise their voices (if at all) in the making of decisions around their work. I joined the team in the…
Read article
