Promoting civic space in Tanzania’s extractive sector governance

Tanzania is endowed with significant mineral resources and the extractive sector forms an important part of the country’s formal and informal economy. The extractive sectors is particularly diverse and it includes artisanal, small, medium, and large-scale mining of high-value minerals such as  gold,  diamonds  and  gemstones, the  widespread extraction of industrial minerals such as limestone, gypsum and salt as well as big exploration projects for oil and gas. The main contribution of the large-scale extractive industry is on the macro-economic level as it accounts for 35% of exports and 5% of GDP. The sector therefore has the potential to effectively contribute to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet, its potential for sustainable development remains far from realized due to severe governance challenges, stemming from a lack of transparency, accountability, and civic participation. This top-down  and  non-inclusive decision-making has  resulted  in  laws  and policies that are detached from realities in the typically remote areas where minerals are extracted.

In partnership with HakiRasilimali a membership NGO of CSOs working in extractive industries, IPIS seeks to implement “promoting civic space in Tanzania’s extractive sector governance” project aimed at promoting  civic  space  in  extractive  sector governance to  improve the sector’s contribution  to  sustainable  development  and  human  rights by:

• Enhancing civil society capacity to assess, monitor and advocate for improvements in the design and implementation of extractive sector policies and laws,
• Improving alignment  of  collective  CSO  efforts  to  represent  and  protect  vulnerable communities in  open dialogue  with  government through  enhanced  coordination, communication  and  cooperation  at  and  between  the  local,  national  and  international level
• Improving citizen access to information and participation in local and national decision-making related to revenue and impact management of extractives.

It is expected that by the end of the project, HakiRasilimali will be a stronger civil society network,  building bridges between the local, national, and international level and that the civil  society  has  enhanced  capacity  to  assess  and  monitor  extractive  sector laws  and implementation. Further, the project seeks to ensure that the citizens, affected communities and local government have better access to information and better participation in extractive sector governance and that civil society more effectively represents community concerns and has a more influential role in dialogue and decision-making on extractives.