We Want What the Ok Tedi Women Have!” Guidance from Papua New Guinea on Women’S Engagement in Mining Deals
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J4P BRIEFING NOTE Promoting equity and managing conflict in development September 2012 Volume 7 | Issue 2 Public Disclosure Authorized “We Want What the Ok Tedi Women Have!” Guidance from Papua New Guinea on Women’s Engagement in Mining Deals by Nicholas Menzies and Georgia Harley1 Agreements between the state, companies, and impacted communities commonly include significant benefit streams for communities, such as a share of royalties and an equity stake in the mine. However, significant gender inequality, both locally and at the national level, means that women’s Public Disclosure Authorized voices are rarely represented when these agreements are be- ing negotiated.3 As a result, women end up with control of few, if any, benefits, even while bearing more of the social and environmental costs of mining.4 1 The authors would like to thank Belden Dasa, Musje Werror, Nigel Parker, Ian Middleton, Jamila Abassi, Almah Tararia, Patricia Kassman, Nicole Haley, Adriana Eftimie, Waafas Ofosu-Amaah, Lwanzo Amani, Sakuntala Akmee- View of the Star Mountains, Western Province, PNG. mana, Phillipa Carr, and Laura Bailey, who were involved in the design, im- plementation, and write-up of this work. However, errors of fact and interpre- tation are ours alone, as are the views expressed in this paper, which should not be attributed to the World Bank, its executive directors, or the countries Public Disclosure Authorized Introduction they represent. E-mail addresses for correspondence: nmenzies@worldbank. org and [email protected]. Despite global gender equality gains in education, life expec- 2 World Bank, World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and De- tancy, and labor force participation, two areas of persistent velopment (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011). Strengthening the role of inequality remain: asset gaps and women’s agency.2 In many women in household and community decision making has been shown to have positive development impacts, as women tend to prioritize productive developing countries, including Papua New Guinea (PNG), expenditures for their families and communities (including on food, health, land and natural resources are citizens’ key assets. Women’s and education) over unproductive consumption (such as alcohol, cigarettes, agency over these assets—that is, their ability to make choic- and gambling). 3 Until the 2012 election when three women were elected at once, in the his- es and transform those choices into actions and outcomes (or tory of PNG’s Parliament only three women had ever been elected. Moreover, more simply, the ability to define goals and act on them)—is roughly two-thirds of women experience gender-based violence in their life- commonly weak. This is especially so when the resources times, and maternal mortality rates are some of the highest in the region. 4 See, for example, M. Macintyre, “Modernity, Gender and Mining: Experi- are accessed for capital-intensive development. Empowering ences from Papua New Guinea,” in Gendering the Field: Towards Sustain- women to exercise agency and control over natural resourc- able Livelihoods for Mining Communities, ed. Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt (Canberra: ANU E-Press, 2011). See also, M. Macintyre, “Petztorme Women: Respond- Public Disclosure Authorized es and the revenues that flow from them is thus an impor- ing to Change in Lihir, Papua New Guinea, Women’s Groups and Everyday tant contemporary focus for gender equality and economic Modernity in Melanesia,” Oceania (Special Issue) 74, no. 1&2 (2003): 120– development. 33. The experience of some indigenous communities in Australia and Canada provides examples of women playing key roles. See C. O’Faircheallaigh, “Women’s Absence, Women’s Power: Indigenous Women and Negotiations The mining regulatory regime in PNG provides a strong with Mining Companies in Australia and Canada,” Ethnic and Racial Studies position for host communities relative to many countries. (2012): 1–19. THE WORLD BANK The Ok Tedi mine, located in the northern corner of exclaimed: “We want what the Ok Tedi women have!” This PNG’s Western province, is an exception, albeit qualified, briefing note, centered on field research in North Fly district to this general state of affairs. The province receives a sig- (one of three impacted areas),8 explores the process of nego- nificant share of mining revenues yet service delivery in the tiation and the progress in implementation of the CMCAs. area remains weak. On top of provincial government rev- The purpose of the research and the resulting brief is to un- enues, impacted communities have received benefits total- derstand how the CMCAs came about, assess whether their ing more than K 2 billion (US$980 million) over the past promise is being realized in practice, and provide guidance decade.5 Revised compensation agreements at the Ok Tedi for mining and gender practitioners looking to use mining mine, called Community Mine Continuation Agreements agreements to improve development outcomes for women, (CMCAs), concluded in 2007 are an encouraging innova- both in PNG and further afield. tion.6 In these revised CMCAs, women had a seat at the ne- gotiating table and secured an agreement giving them 10 per- Underpinning the note’s approach to assessing the imple- cent of all compensation, 50 percent of all scholarships, cash mentation of the CMCAs are two widely held tenets of con- payments into family bank accounts (to which many women temporary development practice: are cosignatories), and mandated seats on the governing bod- ies implementing the agreement (including future reviews • Community-driven development (CDD): CDD has of the agreement). What is more, women’s entitlements be- played an increasingly important role in fragile institu- came legally enforceable rights in agreements signed by the tional contexts. Rather than treating poor and margin- state and the developer. Such an arrangement was—and re- alized people as the target of poverty reduction efforts, mains—unprecedented anywhere in the world. CDD is an approach that gives control over planning decisions and investment of resources to community At the 2010 “Women in Mining” conference in the town groups and local governments. It operates on principles of Madang,7 women from mining communities across PNG of empowerment, community ownership, participatory governance, greater downward accountability, and en- hanced local capacity.9 In difficult environments, com- plexity often undermines accountability and transpar- Figure 1: Map of Western Province, PNG ency; thus key principles, such as clear and simple rules IBRD 39490 142°E 144°E 146°E 148°E 150°E 152°E 154°E 156°E 141°E 142°E MANUS of the game and access to information, are crucial. NEW 2°S IRELAND SANDAUN • Political economy: A political economy approach to EAST Bismark Sea 4°S MADANG SEPIK BOUGAINVILLE WESTERN WEST NEW BRITAIN ENGA HIGHLANDS SANDA U N EAST delivering development programs is one that is de- 6°S INDONESIA SOUTHERN BU NEW BRITAIN CHIM EASTERN HIGHLANDS HIGHLANDS 5°S 5°S MOROBE Ok Tedi Mine WESTERN GULF Solomon SOLOMON signed to mitigate some key risks (such as elite capture Sea ISLANDS Gulf of Wokamin NORTHERN Papua Tabubil PORT MORESBY Selamin NATIONAL CAPITAL CENTRAL 10°S r MILNE e BAY v AUSTRALIA i NOR T H Bimin R i Faiwoi ed F LY 143°E 144°E T PAPUA NEW GUINEA k Ningerum O WESTERN PROVINCE Awin Konai Agala Rumginae TOWNS AND CITIES 5 Mine operator, Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) data. 6°S 6°S PROVINCE CAPITAL 6°S 6 Kiunga SETTLEMENT BOUNDARIES Pa The five main benefit streams under the CMCAs are: cash (the mine operator Nomad Biami DISTRICT BOUNDARIES disburses cash into a mix of family and some clan bank accounts with an an- Nomad SOUTHERN PROVINCE BOUNDARIES Yonggom HIGHL ANDS INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY nual payment per person); village projects (each village submits applications Kaeh Tomu 144°E for small-scale projects and goods, such as water tanks, outboard motors, and Pa Lake Boazi animal husbandry); investments (the Foundation invests funds in projects to Murray INDONESIA MIDDLE Kwam r earn an ongoing return, such as passenger and cargo vessels on the Fly River, e 7°S iv F LY 7°S R d an kl housing in Kiunga, and passenger planes); school scholarships (primary, sec- ic W tr S a B w u GULF o m i ondary, and tertiary); and the Women and Children’s Fund (10 percent of all u R R Bossel R Alambak i v i v e e r r benefits are set aside for women, to be decided upon by women’s groups). Zimakani Tao-Suamato 7 The third in a series of national conferences focused on women in mine- Kamula A r impacted areas, sponsored by the government of PNG and the World Bank as a m Fly Yey Riv ia R er iv er Bamu part of the ongoing sectoral program of technical assistance financed by the 8°S 8°S Suki An-Waruna Balimo Waia Bamu World Bank in PNG. Gogodala Kiwai Suki 8 SOUTH The villages visited as part of research for this note were: mine villages Upper Wabuda Lewada Morehead F LY (Finalbin); river villages (Atkamba, Moian, and Yogi), and road villages Tonda Mulum C (Ningerum, where people came from other road villages to participate in Weam oastal K Idi Morehead iw ai S Kiwai focus group discussions). All villages were in North Fly district (except for Bensbach Wipim Gidra Nambu Gulf of Moian, which is in Middle Fly). Impacts and conditions in Middle and South South Agob 9°S Lower Papua 9°S Kanum Morehead Bine Daru Fly districts are known to be different, and are not covered in this study. Gizra 9 Experience has shown that given clear rules of the game, access to informa- Maza Wildlife This map was produced by the Map Design Unit of The World Bank.