By Dennis Peprah, GNA
Sunyani, July 9, GNA - The University of Nottingham, England, is partnering Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF) a media advocacy organisation to promote human rights in communities affected by mining activities.
The 12-month project is titled: "Change from below: building the capacity of local communities to advocate their rights," and is estimated at the cost of 6,000 pounds.
According to the implementing NGO, it was necessitated by a research conducted by Dr Samuel, a Lecturer at the University in 2012.
The research dubbed: “Re-examining the education -child labour nexus: the case of child miners at Kenyasi," contributes to the debate linkages between education and child labour.
It also draws evidence from ethnographic fieldwork conducted with 57 children working at artisanal gold mining sites at Kenyasi and surrounding communities.
Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GLOMEF, an anti-corruption non- governmental organisation, which works to promote human rights made this known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani.
The goal of the project is to build the capacity of residents in the beneficiary communities to enable them participate in public discourse in mining, land dispossession and social justice for change.
It will further create deeper and informed awareness of the debilitating social, cultural and environmental effects of mining activities at the communities within the where the research was conducted.
The beneficiary communities are Kenyasi Number one, Kenyasi Number two, Ntotroso, Gyedu and Manu Shed.
Mr Ahenu said the project would identify and build the capacity of 120 community based change agents in the beneficiary communities.
He expressed the need for the enhancement of the knowledge and skills of the local people to enable them become active advocates and participate in policy formulation for the extractive sector.
The project, he said sought to empower the locals to effectively campaign for action against the on-going environmental and socio-economic rights violation in the mining communities and beyond.
It will also provide a platform for the research findings to be fed into the programmes and policies of GLOMEF, Mr Ahenu added.
GNA
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