UN Forum Selects WiM-Africa to Lead Dialogue on Women’s Mining Accountability

Women in Mining Africa (WiM-Africa) has been selected to convene an official side event at the 12th Session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-12), aimed at advancing accountability and gender inclusion in Africa’s mining sector.

The session will focus on the Africa Responsible Minerals & Gender Index (ARMGI), an emerging framework designed to strengthen gender-responsive mineral governance, equitable benefit-sharing and measurable development outcomes for women and host communities across the continent.

Held under the theme “Advancing Gender-Responsive Mineral Governance and Measurable Host Community Outcomes through ARMGI,” the side event will bring together policymakers, mining companies, sustainability partners, development institutions and civil society stakeholders to discuss practical approaches to improving accountability in Africa’s extractive industries.

According to Dr Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, Africa’s mineral wealth should be evaluated not only through production volumes and revenue generation, but also by the impact on communities and women participating in the sector.

“ARMGI seeks to help move us from commitments to measurable impact,” she said.

WiM-Africa said ARMGI is being positioned as a collaborative framework to help align Africa’s extractive sector with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), African Union Agenda 2063 and the African Mining Vision.

Discussions during the forum are expected to cover gender-responsive benefit-sharing, women’s inclusion across mineral value chains, responsible minerals and the global energy transition, community-centred accountability, and implementation pathways for piloting ARMGI.

The event forms part of the broader ARFSD-12 theme, “Turning the Tide: Transformative and Coordinated Actions for the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.”