Maame Esi Eshun

Former Southern Voices Network Scholar

May 2, 2016 – July 22, 2016

Professional Affiliation

Regulatory Research Analyst at the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, Ghana

Expert Bio

Maame Esi Eshun is an Economist and Regulatory Research Analyst working with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Ghana. She holds an MPhil in Economics (2013) and a BA in Economics (2010) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana). With demonstrated history of undertaking analytical works and varied multinational research projects, she is keen on realizing advanced research towards practical deliverables via academia-industry relations that ultimately improves livelihoods.

Before her current position, Maame Esi served as the Research Coordinator of SEND West Africa, Ghana, where she acted as the primary administrative contact for internal research staff and as the principal operational liaison for other research organizations and funding agencies.

Her research interests include regulatory and energy economics, women in mining and energy, and gender responsive research. Maame Esi is a former Southern Voices Network Research Fellow/Scholar and a member of the Wilson Center Alumni Network.

Wilson Center Project

Women, Artisanal Mining, and Peacebuilding in Africa: A Call to Action

Project Summary

The artisanal and small-scale mining sector is an important source of income and livelihood for millions of Africans. This sector, accompanied by social, economic, political, and environmental consequences, is often associated with women. In an attempt to reap the riches of the earth to make a living, women take employment in often-dangerous working conditions fraught with violence and conflict. Women artisanal miners are discriminated against, not considered in the core operational decision-making of the mines, and lack opportunities for business expansion and to gain technical know-how. Failure to address these challenges and allow women to fully explore the opportunities available to them in artisanal mining risks perpetuating inequalities and deepening grievances linked to natural resource rights and access and control, which have proven to be powerful catalysts for violence. In addition, the structure of the sector and conditions of work can discourage women from taking up leadership roles in the mining sector thereby reducing efforts towards their empowerment and their contribution towards peacebuilding. In the existing literature on the empowerment of women towards peacebuilding, the programs, peacebuilding initiatives, and due diligence guidelines on the empowerment of women artisanal miners toward peacebuilding remain largely untouched. Thus the question of interest is, how do we capitalize on the role and contributions of women artisanal miners and empower them toward peacebuilding? This research documents how women involved in artisanal mining can be empowered to contribute towards peacebuilding efforts by rationalizing their participation in the sector, and identifying and discussing how the opportunities and contribution of women artisanal miners can be used to enhance their engagement and empowerment in peacebuilding processes.