“To support members of the regional technical commissions (CTR) in the implementation of the project to promote responsible gold panning (OR) in their areas of intervention. This was the aim of a workshop held on October 30 in Ouagadougou for CTR members from the Plateau Central and Centre-Ouest regions.
The meeting provided an opportunity to present the actions, mechanisms and areas of intervention of the OR project to the participants. In addition, as key players in the process of approving budgets and infrastructures to be built, the members of the CTRs also learned about the approach to identifying, financing and building socio-economic infrastructures for MAPE (small-scale artisanal mining) players in the project’s intervention communes: Absouya, Méguet, Mogdedo, Réo and Zam. Among the socio-economic infrastructures identified at the end of the consultation frameworks bringing together the various stakeholders (artisanal miners, local communities, communal officials, local authorities, etc.), we can cite: autonomous water stations (PEA), latrine blocks, storage warehouses, a vaccination haggard, a maternity ward, a youth center, etc. An approach much appreciated by the CTR members present at the meeting. “We greatly appreciate the identification process for these infrastructures, which involved the various stakeholders (local communities and beneficiary gold miners). The construction of this infrastructure will help to improve the living conditions of gold miners, as well as the vulnerable in our communities, namely women and children,” confided Mr. Yampa TOMA, chairman of the regional technical commission responsible for approving the budgets of local authorities and communes.
Mr Yampa TOMA, Chairman of the regional technical committee responsible for approving local authority budgets
As a reminder, this meeting is part of the achievement of the GOLD project’s effect 02 : ” Local authorities participate in the management of artisanal mining according to their communal charters, and improve trust between the various stakeholders in the sector”. The aim is to make communes and local authorities more accountable, so that the needs of MAPE stakeholders are better taken into account in local policies. One of the main activities is to provide technical and financial support for the construction of socio-economic infrastructure for MAPE players and local communities, to the tune of three hundred and thirty million three hundred and eighty-three thousand three hundred and seventy-three (330,383,373) CFA francs. The OR Project is financed by the Swiss Cooperation (SDC) and implemented in synergy with the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Quarries (MEMC) and the Consortium Caritas Suisse (CACH), Artisanal Gold Council (AGC) and Solidar Suisse. The overall objective of the project is: ” Responsible gold mining is established at artisanal mining sites in Burkina Faso, and actors in the artisanal gold production chain benefit from better services and working conditions, contribute to local development and reduce the negative impacts of the sector. ”
