Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean Monday launched the Delve Exchange, a global knowledge exchange network to share good practices to respond to COVID.
The Delve Exchange will utilise accessible online technologies to facilitate regional and global knowledge exchange led by recognised ASM leaders. ASM national networks and associations have played a critical role during the COVID-19 crisis, coordinating short-term relief and assistance in mining communities and advocating strongly on behalf of the sector.
The World Bank’s Extractives Global Programmatic Support (EGPS) Multi-Donor Trust Fund, through its COVID-19 emergency response for the ASM sector, identified an opportunity to promote greater knowledge sharing through a formal exchange program, now the Delve Exchange.
The Delve Exchange will include Delve Exchange Groups for six regions, facilitated through WhatsApp. Members of the Exchange Groups will share good practices and seek peer support through videos or voice recordings, documents, photos or drawings. Each regional network will hold monthly Delve Exchange Forums through Zoom.
In addition, the team will seek access to selected training opportunities for its members. Caribbean coordinator Urica Primus has seen the Delve Exchange remove border barriers and allow miners to appreciate their similarities.
“It provides a platform to foster cross-border collaborations for the development of mining industries and the improvement of the lives of the miners, in multiple countries,” she said.
Meanwhile, Blessing Hungwe, Coordinator for English speaking Africa, observed that “from the start, the Delve Exchange has put women artisanal miners at the steering wheel of the project to address the marginalisation of women. I cannot wait to see the empowerment of women to drive the future of artisanal mining.”
The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute will support this team. The University of Queensland support team brings together decades of experience to promote the voice and visibility of regional ASM leaders and practitioners.
The Delve Exchange partners include the Association of Women in Mining in Africa, The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, the World Bank, the OECD and the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme, implemented by the UNDP.
The Delve Exchange was established with funding from the COVID-19 emergency window for the ASM sector from the World Bank’s Extractives Global Programmatic Support (EGPS) Trust Fund. EGPS supports resource-dependent developing countries to build extractive sectors that drive inclusive, sustainable growth and development and ultimately, poverty reducti
