Education for the Transformation of Artisanal to Small-scale Mining, Ecuador (TransMAPE)

CIRDI’s approach prioritized education as an essential entry point for better organization and formalization of the ASM sector. This methodology was aligned with Ecuador’s Vice Ministry of Mines strategy for the transformation of the sector, which includes an emphasis on technical training and education for both miners and regulators. As part of the TransMAPE project, CIRDI worked closely with the Government of Ecuador through the Vice Ministry of Mines on developing a long-term education and training program that blended Canadian and Ecuadorian technical expertise and experience to contribute, through education, to the development of a more socially and environmentally responsible small-scale mining sector.

Gender

• The project measured gender-disaggregated impacts for vulnerable groups such as women and children to ensure gender-specific issues were addressed in educational design and to ensure equitable access to education, resources, and opportunities. In Ecuador’s ASM community, there is considerable participation by women in roles related to the administration and commercialization of minerals. However, women gold waste rock recyclers (jancheras) do not have a clear role in the ASM cycle. Hence, they are exploited and marginalized; their participation and income levels are well below their male counterparts. For this reason, TransMAPE helped to:
  • Increase the understanding of women recyclers’ role through their inclusion as a key stakeholder in the project;
  • Raise awareness of the difficulties they face in order to incentivize government officials to develop a public-policy framework that supports the fair and safe employment of women in the sector and;
  • Implement an Economic Diversification Workshop with a group of 30 women gold recyclers. The goal of the workshop was to provide women with resources to transition into alternative paths for sustainable economic empowerment should they choose to leave the mining, or to enter into “horizontal” industries that service the sector.

Environment

• The key objective of the project was to develop mercury-free gold recovery techniques in collaboration with the Vice Ministry, UTMACH, and IIGE. The pilot courses developed and implemented with ASM miners emphasized strategies to reduce mercury use in the ASGM sector. The project gathered information, conducted an environmental assessment, and enhanced the policy capacity of government authorities by providing informed, evidence-based information, in regards to the use of mercury in the sector. This information is important to build policies to create a sustainable ASGM sector.

Governance

• This project worked directly with the Vice Ministry of Mines and its research and regulatory institutions to help them fulfill their mandate under the 2009 Mining Law. During the project, CIRDI demonstrated the importance of having an inter-institutional approach to the implementation of natural resources governance.

• Increased collection and use of the ASGM data to inform better decision-making regarding the training interventions in Portovelo-Zaruma and Ponce Enriquez regions.
• Improved integration into national objectives of an evidence-based training program for Southern Ecuador, developed to build stakeholders’ capacity in environmentally sound, safe, and economically efficient mining practices.
• Reached a minimum of 40 government officials across three ministries for capacity building and 200 miners through pilot training modules. During the implementation of the project, CIRDI established solid relationships with the Vice-Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Environment, Technical Secretariat (SETEC), and the Institute of Geological and Energy Research (IIGE). By the end of the project, these government institutions had demonstrated their commitment to improving policies that can provide an evidence-based training program for Southern Ecuador and that are aimed towards building capacity to enact environmentally sound and economically efficient mining practices.