2023 State of the ASM Sector report Explore Delve's new report on ASM's contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality

Team

Recognised regional ASM leaders facilitate the Delve Exchange with the support of global ASM experts.

Six Knowledge Exchange Coordinators will convene a regional network each:

  • Aida Tamboura (Africa, French speaking)
  • Blessing Hungwe (Africa, English Speaking)
  • Dian Anggraeni (South, East Asia and Pacific)
  • Rana Sengupta (South and Central Asia)
  • Manuel Reinoso (Latin America)
  • Urica Primus (Caribbean)

Each coordinator will convene a network of Voluntary National Ambassadors.

Aida Tamboura (Africa, French speaking)

Aida Tamboura from Burkina Faso is the Regional Knowledge Exchange Coordinator for Francophone Africa. Aida is a native French speaker and has connected at the mine face with local, regional and national ASM mining associations, unions, and cooperatives with good representation of gender and youth for over 20 years. As the West African Women in Mining Coordinator since 2015, she has developed the one and only umbrella association for women working in the artisanal mining sector in Burkina Faso, which was quickly recognised for its commitment to organising women miners and to federate them. With focal points in rural communities, and in unions, she advocates for and partners with the mines to better supervise women operators in the artisanal mining sector.

Blessing Hungwe (Africa, English Speaking)

Blessing Hungwe from Zimbabwe is the Regional Knowledge Exchange Coordinator for Anglophone Africa. Blessing is a native English speaker who has been an ASM miner and trader of gold since her youth and has also traded chrome and gemstones. She has held positions of responsibility in numerous ASM associations such as Guruve District Women in Mining Association and has served as the Mashonaland Central Province Women in Mining Association Chairperson and the Zimbabwe Women in Mining National Chairperson (2017- 2018). Blessing also served a SADC regional leader for African Women in Mining Association (AWIMA). She has played a key role in the formation of Zimbabwe Women in Mines and Mining Development Trust. She is actively engaged in advocating for ASM in national and international media and in projects to reduce mercury use in ASM gold.

Dian Anggraeni (Southeast Asia and Pacific)

Dian Anggraeni, from Indonesia, is the Knowledge Exchange Coordinator for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. She is a co-founder of Women in Mining and Energy (WiME) Indonesia. She has been working on ASM governance issues for about nine years. Dian has been directly involved in capacity building for the ASM community and on ASM -policy maker dialogues. She has advocated for an enabling environment for ASM.

Rana Sengupta (South and Central Asia)

Rana Sengupta is based at Rajasthan in India and is associated with the ‘Mine Labour Protection Campaign Trust’ (MLPC) an NGO which works for the rights and entitlements of mine workers. He has an experience of working for the mine workers of over two decades helping them to organise and demand for their rights through associations like trade unions and cooperatives. His expertise is on community mobilisation, policy advocacy, networking and research. His vital contribution is for recognition of high incidence of silicosis among stone quarry workers and helping the government to develop a Pneumoconiosis policy to address the cause. He has done his PhD on the conditions of workers in the supply chain of natural stone industry and fair trade principles in Rajasthan.

Manuel Reinoso (Latin America)

Manuel Reinoso from Peru is the Regional Knowledge Exchange Coordinator for Latin America. Manuel is a native Spanish speaker and has been an artisanal miner since 1993. He has extensive experience working within mining associations and was a founding member and president of SONAMIPE, the National Society of Small-scale Mining in Peru and was also elected president of the Coordinating Commission of Artisanal Miners of the Mid-south of Peru. He has deep experience with the World Bank’s work on ASM having attended CASM in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. He worked with other miners and organisations in the drafting of a law project for the formalisation of artisanal mining in Peru, which was adopted in 2001 (Law27651 on Formalisation and Promotion of Small Scale and Artisanal Mining).

Urica Primus (Caribbean)

Urica Primus from Guyana is the Regional Knowledge Exchange Coordinator for the Caribbean. A former artisanal miner herself, Urica has significant experience representing artisanal, women and small scale miners in Guyana. She is the President of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation and has served as a member since 2012. Between 2016 and 2020 she was twice elected Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. Through her work representing miners she has developed extensive networks with associations across the region and is particularly interested in issues of social protection, capacity development and migration.

Support Team

With support from the UNDP, Kasazi Nywendwa, Expert Advisor - UNDP Consultant will facilitate collaboration and participation from beneficiaries of the UNDP’s COVID emergency response programs for the ASM sector.

An expert team from the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute supports the team of Knowledge Exchange Coordinators. The UQ support team includes: