By Steven Bockarie
The Sierra Leone National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives (NACE) is on afive-day training civil society organisations this week in Makeni, on natural resource governance. The week-long training which is supported by the Dutch NGO, Ibis, is a training of trainers programme targeting mining districts in Sierra Leone.
The lead trainer, Bishop Akolgo from Ghana said the trainees were expected to go back after the training and work with policy makers, local councils and the chiefdom authorities on the cost and benefits of mining.
National Coordinator of NACE, Cecilia Mattia told Politico that the participants were to do a work plan which they would use to work with the local councils and chiefdom administration in their various districts starting January 2014. She said the skills acquired would help the councils and chiefdom administration to maximize the benefits of mining through revenue and other means.
One of the participants, Hawa Conteh from the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDHR) told Politico that the training had increased her knowledge on the tools needed to work with the relevant actors on mining and the sources councils could use to generate revenue and improve on the living standards of the people.
The training is expected to end on Friday after field trips to Port Loko and Tonkolili Districts to find out from those councils and community people the cost and benefits of mining activities in their communities, especially regarding the local content policy, environmental issues, and land agreements, among others issues.
(C) Politico 21/11/13
