A four-day paralegal workshop aimed at equipping community members to fight injustice and address abuses in mining-affected areas has concluded in Fumesua, Ashanti Region.
The workshop, which ran from July 15 to July 19, 2025, brought together thirty (30) women and youth from mining-affected communities across the Eastern, Ashanti, Ahafo, Western, and Western North Regions.
Organised by Wacam in collaboration with Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) the training equipped participants with basic legal knowledge and skills to identify and address instances of injustices and abuse in their communities.
With guidance from lawyers at the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) and Wacam, participants acquired practical skills in cost-effective legal support, addressing community challenges, and rights advocacy.
The workshop covered a wide range of topics, including the role of paralegals, mining laws, human rights and monitoring, access to justice, organisational identity and values, mining and community development, gender and extractive governance, alternative dispute resolution and the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
Participants also received training on compensation and resettlement principles under the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703).
At the workshop’s opening on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, the Associate Executive Director of Wacam, Mrs. Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, delivered a presentation on “Mining and Community Development.”
She lamented that safeguarding the environment remains a glaring omission in Ghana’s national development agenda, stressing that people often equate development with infrastructure, overlooking the holistic improvement in the quality of life.
This, approach, she said, often treats vulnerable communities as a means to development, rather than the target beneficiaries.
Mrs. Owusu-Koranteng noted that natural resource wealth, unlike other sources of wealth, is essentially a “free gift of nature,” arguing that “economically, they are more of assets (capital) than a source of income.
She highlighted that fundamental ecosystem services, often taken for granted, provide enormous socio-economic benefits.
These benefits, she mentioned, included the medicinal value of biodiversity, bushmeat trade, purification of air and water, pollination of crops and natural vegetation, dispersal of seeds, among others.
Mrs. Owusu-Koranteng introduced participants to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), explaining that it encompasses various processes for resolving conflicts outside the traditional courtroom.
She underscored that ADR provides flexible, less formal, and cost-effective approaches to dispute resolution, focusing on collaborative solutions facilitated by a neutral third party or agreed-upon processes.
She further noted that the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act, 2010 (Act 798) defines ADR in Section 135 as “the collective description of methods of resolving disputes otherwise than through the normal trial process.”
Mrs. Owusu-Koranteng said there are primarily three ADR methods for resolving disputes: arbitration, mediation, and negotiation, adding that that there are hybrid approaches that combine elements of these processes, including Med-Arb, Victim-Offender Mediation, and Expedited Arbitration.
The Executive Director of CEPIL, Lawyer Augustine Niber, enlightened participants on the role and responsibilities of a paralegal, providing them with valuable insights into the field.
He stressed that paralegal is somebody who is educated, trained and equipped with basic knowledge and skills in the law to provide legal and other assistance to ommunities.
He said paralegals play a crucial role in working with communities, organising them to advocate their rights.
However, he emphasised the importance of understanding the limitations of their role, noting that paralegals are not lawyers.
“Paralegals are expected to provide basic legal advice to the communities in which they live or operate, paralegals are not lawyers,” he stated.
Paralegals are tasked with conducting human rights monitoring in their communities,” he explained, “which involves tracking human rights violations and following up on cases handled in court or by human rights activists or institutions.”
Mr. Niber went on to add that paralegals are expected to provide essential dispute resolution services in their communities, including negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
“Additionally, they are responsible for gathering and documenting information on human rights violations and cases within their communities.”
During the session on “Gender and Extractive Governance,” a Senior Lecturer from the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Dr. Edgar Takyi Akonor, indicated that the social, economic, and environmental impacts of extractive industries are often experienced differently by men and women.
He intoned that women tend to face greater barriers in accessing information and decision-making spaces.
“Extractive governance is crucial to ensuring that mining contributes to sustainable development, enabling citizens to reap maximum benefits from natural resource development,” he noted.
He further explained that when land is expropriated for extractive projects, family farms managed by women are often affected, leading to loss of income and autonomy for women.
“These farms not only provide women with a source of income but also empower them with decision-making power in their households and communities,” Dr. Akonor.
Dr. Akonor explained that governance of the extractive industries is based on professionalism, transparent processes, sensitivity to gender issues and an integrated human rights perspective.
“Governance of the mining industry requires knowledge about a broad spectrum of subjects, from geology and geochemistry to social impacts and human rights.”
“In many contexts of mining, especially in regions with low gender equality, impacts are unevenly felt by women and men. Scientific evidence shows us that men tend to experience more of the positive impacts such as employment and economic advantages, while women bear a disproportionate amount of negative impacts. Negative impacts for women may be imbedded in cultural norms that exclude women from participation as stakeholders or in receiving compensation from impacts,” the UCC lecturer said.
He pointed out that the gendered effects of mining, noting that women are often excluded from key decision-making processes.
“Women are not consulted when companies negotiate access to land, compensation, or benefits,” he said.
As a result, when mining activities damage the environment, women’s ability to provide for their families is severely impacted, leading to increased workloads and responsibilities.
He added that compensation and benefits are often paid to men, “on behalf of” their families, effectively denying women direct access to financial benefits from mining activities.
Dr. Akonor stressed the importance of integrating gender considerations to improve governance in the extractive sector. He advocated a more inclusive approach that recognises the unique impacts of extractive activities on women and addresses the existing gender gaps in decision-making processes, benefit sharing, and access to information.
Lawyer Kwaku Afari led a session on the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), focusing on its role in addressing challenges in the mining sector.
He stated that the FPIC principle is an empowering tool that grants communities the authority to define their own goals and destiny and to have a meaningful say in development.
He stated that operationalizing in mining communities will create a countervailing power to balance the financial and lobbying influence of extractive companies, thereby minimising the impact of extractivism.
Story By: Dennis Ato Keelson
