The report is undertaken with six focus countries of Uganda, Cameroon, Guinea Conakry and Zambia. The analysis, which saw 434 participants indirectly take part, was carried out basing on 22 districts and 42 artisanal small scale mineral sites (ASM) where most of the miners are active, thus creating over 0.4 jobs which benefit over 2.6 million Ugandans.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD), in partnership with the European Union and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Tuesday launched Uganda’s first baseline assessment and value chain analysis reports for the development minerals sector.
The launch was attended by Cedric Merel, the head of the European Union Mission in Uganda, UNDP deputy country manager, among other dignitaries from private sector and various development partners.
The report is undertaken with six focus countries of Uganda, Cameroon, Guinea Conakry and Zambia. The analysis, which saw 434 participants indirectly take part, was carried out basing on 22 districts and 42 artisanal small scale mineral sites (ASM) where most of the miners are active, thus creating over 0.4 jobs which benefit over 2.6 million Ugandans.
The report further gives an insight of the challenges facing the growth of development minerals sector and possible measures to overcome them.
According to the report, over 390,000 people in Uganda are engaged in mineral sector of which 44% constitutes women. These figures further represent over 216% increase from 2008.
The biggest employers by commodity are employed in clay and stone aggregate.
While speaking at the launch, UNDP deputy country manager Thomas Ole-Kuyan said that through in-depth analysis, the report will help in addressing regulatory framework challenges,environmental issues, institutional operating context, social impact, among other issues within the development mineral sector.
He said there is a need to strengthen the regulatory framework, extension of capital facilities to the sector, addressing the potential social and environmental impact, and optimization of opoortunitie that will contribute to achievement of development plans.
‘’UNDP is a strong ally to global efforts in tackling the massive sustainable development challenges associate with the extractive industries sector,” he said.
“It is for this reason that we are working with the ministry of energy and mineral developmen ,the ACP Group, and the EU to improve the management of development through the ACP-EU development programme.
“It’s is our hope that the baseline assessment and value chain analysis reports will provide good insight into the development minerals sector, which will in turn provide an evidence-based policy that will inform our collective efforts towards transformation of the sector for human development.’’
Amb. Merel said that EU in Uganda is willing to support and strengthen good governance and accountability in the mining sector, adding that through the ACP-EU development minerals programme, the EU has made substantial investments in order to enhance significant achievements in the mining sector, especially the development minerals through possible mechanisms such as the democratic governance facility framework and the tropical trust fund on managing natural resource wealth which will optimize the benefits from revenue generated from mining.
“The EU supports the accession of Uganda to the extractive industries transparency initiative (EITI) and I am pleased to inform you that under the new sector reform,” he said.
“Development minerals are a very critical driver for development in Uganda due to their contribution of about 390,000 jobs , 7% of GDP and grossing over USD350 million in value as per 2016 estimates.”
UNDP describes development minerals as those used in people’s live to make products such as plates,paint and tooth paste.according to the report Uganda boasts a variety of development minerals, including construction minerals like limestone, clay gypsum, marble and sand, among others.
The reports sheds light on these minerals,sharing comprehensive data on the range of these natural resources,their sites of extraction and the number of people who benefit from them especially in terms of employment
Despite Uganda having a broad range of all these natural resources,it remains a shocking revelation that most of them remain largely unexploited.
The reports were commissioned by the ACP-EU ,development minerals program, an initiative of the African, Caribbean and pacific group of states,financed by the European union and UNDP and implemented by UNDP.