Community Engagement In Building The Legal Framework For The Extractive Sector.

Are we there yet??

David BarissaActionAid International

The Realm of CE

Sound check…- Process of involving, at various levels of

participation, empowerment and capacity, groups of citizens affiliated by geographic proximity and/or special interest and/or similar situations to address issues affecting the well being of those citizens.

- It strengthens the capacity of communities to take action that produces positive and sustainable changes locally

- Promotes and facilitates community participation in the formation of policy and delivery of services

- Fosters collaboration across government departments and throughout the community in relation to issues affecting quality of life

Impediments- Unaccountable institutions (e.g parliament)

- Conflicting legislation, policy incoherence

- Lack of legislation on access to information >> (Lack of transparency and accountability)

- Tensions between key institutions, arms and levels of gov. (undermines public confidence)

- Continued violation of rights (land grabs)

- Vested interests

- Low public capacity (Skills, knowledge, ..)

Impediements cont…

- Inadequacy of mineral and geological data (only reconnaissance studies), scanty info makes it difficult to engage

- Boundary conflicts still abound in some places

- Conflicts between land rights and mineral rights, some minerals occurring in game reserves

- Weak implementation/enforcement of existing safeguards/provisions (local/international) e.g Multi stakeholder platforms outlined in TGs

Mrima residents…Kwale

Without just and effective laws, leave our natural resources alone!

Looking ahead..- Continuous stakeholder involvement and consultation to

ensure bottom-up voice in decision-making (Multi-stakeholder platforms?)

- Parliament to legislate on the access to information clause contained in Article 35 of the Constitution. This is hindering the ability of stakeholders to effectively oversight the sector

- Address information gaps and misinformation, raise public awareness and create the conditions for the stronger citizens’ involvement

- Checks and balances: making optimal use of constitutional provisions on public participation, citizen empowerment and the public scrutiny of power-holders

- Resolve apparent tensions btwn national-county govts, community revenue sharing

- Strengthen transparency and accountability through reasonable public disclosure

Conclusions & Recommendations- Politics and governance in the industry play a key role in

natural resources management >> policy and decision makers need to pay special attention to meaningful participation of local communities in the governance processes of the industry resources.

- Government should consider publishing, regularly, details of revenues obtained from the extractive sector and how these are being applied towards development (sign up to EITI??).

- Access to and exchange of reliable and relevant information will boost stakeholder communication and raise public debate on the extractives sector, with a view to stimulating a local-national conversation on the issues at stake

- Move from a public relations approach to one more focused on fostering dynamic community dialogue and participation

NAMUVERA ZHOMU