Strengthening Mining Governance in Malawi

CEPA through the Tilitonse Fund recognizes the urgency of strengthening the sector's governance which is characterized by weak institutional, policy and legal frameworks. It is for this cause that CEPA through Tilitonse Fund is implementing a project on Strengthening Mining Governance in Malawi with an overall goal of ensuring that governance in the mining sector is more inclusive and accountable. To accomplish this, the project is conducting policy review of the current legal and policy framework including the ongoing development of the Mining Policy to identify specific areas for improvement. The project is designed to develop a model mining policy and legal framework that Malawi will need for effective regulation of the mining sector. In addition, CEPA is developing associated policy briefs of key emerging issues. Policy research is also being done to draw lessons from other countries that have developed robust regulatory frameworks for their mining sector. Evidence based policy advocacy is being conducted to assess policy implementation and facilitation of dialogue with allied communities for a contextual understanding of implications for the regulatory framework.

Though the sector is still an emerging industry and most civil society organizations have limited knowledge of the sector, CEPA recognizes the role to be played by Civil Society and academia in facilitating research to inform effective policy development in the mining sector. Bearing this in mind, the project aims to see that there is a generation of collective civil society voices in mining policy issues through the use of Natural Resource Justice Network (NRJN) members that will:

• Identify advocacy issues pertaining to the mining sector;
• Facilitate training in policy advocacy for civil society organizations working in the mining sector;
• Develop an advocacy strategy; and
• Lobby government to consider elements from the model policy and legal framework that will be developed by CEPA.