News & Voices

En Perú, Bolivia, Colombia y Ecuador, las mujeres trabajan día a día por una minería de oro artesanal y de pequeña escala más responsable con sus derechos y el cuidado del ambiente

For women mineral selectors in Ecuador known as jancheras, a new gardening initiative allows families to generate additional income and provides a source of food security in times of emergency such as those currently being experienced around the world.

The planetGOLD partner project in Ecuador along with the Ministry of Environment and Water, UNDP, the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, IIGE, and the Central Bank of Ecuador are embarking on a new training workshop to help refresh technical knowledge and focus on developing methodologies and strategies to train more than 300 artisanal miners located in Camilo Ponce Enriquez, Zaruma-Portovelo and Chinapintza in 2021.

Ecuador's Ministry of Environment and Water, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have provided USD $299,229.50 for the development of six projects to reduce pollution generated by chemical substances, specifically persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury.These actions will benefit 11,873 people in the provinces of Santa Elena, Pichincha, Azuay, El Oro and Zamora Chinchipe.

For years an association of women artisanal miners in Ecuador has dreamed of generating another economic activity by promoting the use of materials extracted in the area through goldsmithing, which they believe can provide a way to represent their culture and, in the future, promote tourism. Their dream will soon be a reality as new funding has been provided to implement a goldsmithing workshop. Read more in this article from our partner project in Ecuador.

As the COVID-19 health emergency has significantly impacted families in Ecuador, especially artisanal miners who depend on this activity to make ends meet, planetGOLD's partner project there has responded to protect these vulnerable communities using a campaign titled Las Reglas de Oro, or "The Golden Rules" - recommendations to protect artisanal & small-scale miners in the context of COVID-19. Using short videos and print material, it aims to provide miners with practical advice for protecting themselves and others against the spread of COVID-19 as containment measures relax and miners return to work.

For many women miners who scavenge for gold among rocks discarded by larger mining operations, the outbreak of COVID-19 has threatened their ability to make ends meet each day. In hard-hit Ecuador, help arrived for these women and their families in the form of food and cleaning supplies financed by voluntary contributions by their fellow citizens.

In the midst of the COVID-19 quarantine, staying home presents a significant challenge for many people in Ecuador when they cannot afford to go without their regular income. In an act of solidarity, our partner project in Ecuador is coordinating a voluntary fundraising campaign to provide food and cleaning kits for 20 women miners and their families.

Part of our series lifting up the voices of women miners in observance of International Women's Day, this article spotlights female miners in Ecuador known locally as "jancheras," and the actions our partner project, the GEF-funded National Program for the Environmental Sound Management and Live Cycle Management of Chemical Substances, is taking to support them.

Los equipos del proyecto que trabajan en planetGOLD en Perú y Colombia viajaron a Ecuador recientemente para reunirse con socios estratégicos, planificar actividades conjuntas y compartir buenas prácticas.

With the aim of promoting safe, clean and profitable small-scale gold mining in the Andes region, the project teams working on planetGOLD in Peru and Colombia traveled to Ecuador last month to meet with partners working there, to plan joint activities and share good practices.