Executive Director of Women in Mining Africa, Dr. Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, says Africa’s mineral wealth should not be measured only by production volumes and revenues, but by the tangible benefits it delivers to women and host communities.
Dr. Comfort stated this ahead of an official side event to be hosted by WiM-Africa at the 12th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-12), organised under the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
She said the event would focus on advancing dialogue around the Africa Responsible Minerals & Gender Index (ARMGI), an emerging framework designed to promote gender-responsive mineral governance and measurable outcomes for women and host communities across the continent.
The session, themed “Advancing Gender-Responsive Mineral Governance and Measurable Host Community Outcomes through ARMGI,” is expected to attract representatives of African institutions, private sector operators, development partners, environmental stakeholders and civil society groups.
According to her, ARMGI seeks to strengthen accountability, monitor progress and align Africa’s extractive sector with the Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063 and the African Mining Vision.
Dr. Asokoro-Ogaji emphasized that discussions at the side event will focus on gender-responsive benefit-sharing, women’s inclusion in mineral value chains, community-centred accountability, responsible minerals in the energy transition and pathways for piloting the index.
The event forms part of the broader ARFSD-12 theme, “Turning the Tide: Transformative and Coordinated Actions for the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.”
