Delivered in on 7-11 October 2013
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synopsis
 Introduction
 Background of Uganda’s mining sector
 Artisanal mining in Uganda
 Effects of mining on women and youths
 NAPE’s intervention
 Achievements
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Introduction
 Uganda is endowed with extractable mineral resources
across the country
 Over 50 different minerals, both metallic and nonmetallic
 Most of the mineral deposits are found in areas where
communities live
 Some are located in sensitive ecosystems such as lakes
and wildlife reserves
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Mineral occurrence in Uganda
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Background of Uganda’s mining sector
 Uganda’s mining sector was vibrant in the colonial
days (1950s – 1960s)
 Slackened in the 1970s – 1980s due to political
instability that forced many extractive companies
to abandon their operation
 However, artisanal salt mining and small-scale
gold mining in different parts of the country
continues to-date
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Artisanal mining in Uganda
 Minerals extracted at small-scale include; salt,
gold, clay, stones etc
 The process is manual & labour-intensive using
rudimentary tools (hoes, shovels & basins)
 Mining in small-scale, employing few people –
thousands of women, men & children
 Informal or disorganized sector & unlicensed or
organized in a company/association allowed to
work
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Artisanal Salt mining
 Salt mining started in ancient times (16th century)
 Mainly extracted in L. Katwe, a crater lake with high
concentration of salt & mixture of hydrogen, ammonia
and other gases
 Three products are mined; block of rock salt, high
quality crystals used as table salt, and salt mud used as
licks for livestock
 Mining process requires miners to enter into the salty
& chemicals polluted water to extract the salt
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Salt mining cont….
 Block salt is mined
by men from the
bottom of the lake
at dipper points
 Women are
involved in salt
wining which is a
process of
fractional
crystallization in
large semipermanent pools
around the edges
of the lake
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Effects of salt mining on women
 Miners operate without protective gears, when the brine




get into contact with a ruptures skin, it causes itching
and irritation sometimes severe
Effects on reproductive health -abdominal pains, pain
the uterus and tube
High salt concentration leads to dehydration
By accident when a miner falls in the chemical polluted
salty water, there is instant loss of life
To reduce this effect, women use pads and ware tight
pants covered with polythene paper. Men ware condoms
and tighten with rubber bands
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Effects cont….
 A woman’s hand damaged by salt brine
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Oil and gas
 When commercially viable oil deposits were
confirmed in 2006, gov’t and oil companies started
development process
 Many meetings, studies, EIAs, & consultations were
done but with limited participation of communities
especially women
 Issues of women regarding benefit sharing,
compensation & access to vital resources were ignored
in the EIAs
 Absence of gender responsive policies, strategies and
mechanisms exacerbate the situation
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Effects on women
 With limited land, women can no longer put enough
food on table to feed their families
 Women now have restricted access to wildlife reserve
were they used to collect firewood. Given 2 days in a
week.
 Denied access to some water points. Some oil wells are
located at the lake shores, now this is a no-go zone.
 Some women were fish mongers, now they have no
access to fish
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NAPE’s Intervention
 Sensitize affected communities on human rights
aspects of the oil industry so that they can
understand, demand & defend their rights
 Work closely with the media to amplify the
concerns of the affected women
 Published articles on the concerns of the
communities, especially women in newpapers
 Developed, published & disseminated many
advocacy materials (T/shirts, flayers, &
booklets) on the plight of the affect people
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NAPE’s intervention cont…
 Captured key voices of on negative effects of oil
on women and the community
 Documented, published & disseminated to
policy-makers, parliament, oil companies & the
community & published on our website
 Organized and facilitated affected communities
to form a drama group through which they send
messages on their plight through songs and
drama
 Amplified women‘s voices nationally &
internationally in for a like this one
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Intervention cont…
Drama group practicing their performance
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Achievements
 NAPE boosts of breaking docility from affected people
and creating a mass that in shaping debates in the oil
industry
 Communities now on their own can write articles on
their plight in the national dailies
 Petition government through their political
representative in parliament over the inadequate
compensation packages
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Achievements cont…
Affected
women
petitioning
their
woman
representat
ive in
parliament
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Achievements cont….
 Government has not halted the
development of the oil refinery the matter is
resolved, after an independent committee
that probed the alleged the contested
compensation packages offered to affected
community reveled the process was not
transparent.
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T
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