ARM’s 2nd Regional Workshop Of The Pilot Projects In Peru
Introduction: The Association of Responsible Mining (ARM) http://www.communitymining.org/qseng.htm is at the fore front creating a fair trade platform that would bring great economic benefit for small scale artisanal miners around the world. In this post, by Christina Echavarria, the Secretary General of ARM, reports on a conference that took place in Peru a few months ago. ~ Marc
The Second Regional Workshop on Standard Zero for Fair Trade Artisanal Gold and Associated Silver and Platinum was held in Peru on April 23rd to 30th. The workshop was organized in two parts, and included 4 days of meetings in Lima and 3 days of travel to Peru’s Sur Medio region with the objective of sharing information, experiences and ideas about the producers mining activities and pioneering venture in the Fair Trade sector.
The regional workshop brought together over 30 participants from the 9 pilot projects including miners from producer organizations, woman’s organizations, researchers-practitioners from support organizations, community leaders, jewellers, refiners, international representatives from the Fair Trade Labelling Organisation (FLO), The Fair Trade Foundation (UK), TRANSFAIR USA, and ARM board members and staff.
The first part of the regional workshop consisted of two days of meetings that focused on capacity-building for producers and support organizations.
Sessions were devoted to:
– Progress reports on the various individual pilot projects in Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia and Colombia
– Analysis and feedback from working groups on the practical application of the Baseline Assessment and Cost of Production Tools for Fair Trade Gold (facilitated by Felix Hruschka)
– Capacity-building for Quality Management and Assurance in the individual pilot project producer groups (led by AMICHOCO)
– Workshop on Risk Analysis and Conflict Management in the Value Chain (conducted by Prodiálogo).
On Friday April 25th, a public meeting was held at the Peruvian National Congress to discuss Fair Trade in Artisanal and Small-Scale mining, with a focus on the Peruvian context.
This was an important opportunity for ARM pilots and stakeholders to dialogue with the government regarding progress to date, future expectations and the role and necessity of governments to engage with, and provide support for this movement towards responsible mining.
Congressman Tomas Cenzano Sierralta expressed his commitment to support the process of formalization in the sector and outlined the legislative reforms that are currently before congress.
The congressman also noted that the proposed legislation seeks to draw a distinction between large and small-scale operations, which is in line with ARMs objectives for the effective development of ASM. The meeting concluded with the launch of the publication “La Rama Dorada: Guia para Mineria Artesanal y de Pequena Escala Responsable” (THE GOLDEN BOUGH: A guide to responsible ASM) authored by members of the RESPOMIN network.
On Saturday 26th of April, prior to the Southward departure of the caravan of delegates, the morning session was devoted to exploring opportunities for collaboration between ARM and the Fair Trade Labeling Organization. FLO and its member organizations, UK based Fair Trade Foundation and Transfair America had an opportunity to learn about the pilot projects, ARMs objectives, structure and commercialization strategy, and to discuss possibilities of developing a jointly administered certification system for fair trade minerals produced by small producers.
The travel to Southern Peru was an opportunity for the miners to participate in horizontal learning and to exchange technical and organizational knowledge and experiences, development and commercialization strategies and best-practices. Each visit to the pilot projects included a tour of the mining operations and processing facilities.
Initially, the caravan travelled to Santa Filomena and was hosted by the SOTRAMI Producer Organization and Pallaqueras or women miners. The second pilot that was visited was in the mining town of Cuatro Horas with a tour of the MACDESA producer organisation’s operations. A meeting was also held with the women miners (Mujeres Seleccionadoras) at their headquarters where emphasis was placed on the importance of gender empowerment and equity for successful implementation of Standard Zero principles. On the final day of the excursion, the participants visited Relave to see the work of the AURELSA corporation.
Please do not hesitate to write if you require further information of would like to support the development of the pilot projects and capacity building activities for artisanal miners through ARM and its partner organizations.
Cristina Echavarria
Association for Responsible Mining ARM (www.communitymining.org)
PBX: 574-3330188
