In recent years, there has been a growing interest in exploring and working on gender and mining issues in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) as well as in the formal larger-scale mining (LSM) sector. Many international stakeholders have become active in this field, such as the World Bank, and UN Women in particular via its East and Southern Africa Office in Kenya. Also Dutch and international civil society organizations are working on different projects and initiatives of which some are financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Furthermore, at the EU level, MFA is noticing increased attention from Dutch private sector actors to sustainability in the mining sector, and MFA has been one of the initiators of the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM) agreement in line with the OECD Guidance for responsible sourcing.

From MFA’s point of view there is now momentum building and new opportunities for gender integration in mining and it has requested the Gender Resource Facility (GRF) to provide assistance. This quick scan report thus forms part of a larger GRF assignment to support MFA to prepare the
ground for strategic integration of gender equality issues in mining