UN ARFSD-12 Selects WiM-Africa side event to launch dialogue on Africa Responsible Minerals & Gender Index (ARMGI)

Women in Mining Africa (WiM-Africa) will convene an official side event at the 12th Session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD-12), organised under the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, to advance dialogue on the Africa Responsible Minerals and Gender Index (ARMGI).

The session, themed Advancing Gender-Responsive Mineral Governance and Measurable Host Community Outcomes through ARMGI, is expected to bring together African institutions, private sector operators, development partners, environmental stakeholders and civil society actors. 

Discussions will centre on practical approaches to translating mineral governance commitments into measurable outcomes.

At the core of the engagement is ARMGI, positioned as an emerging accountability framework designed to strengthen gender-responsive mineral governance, promote equitable benefit-sharing and deliver tangible outcomes for women and host communities across the continent.

The framework is also expected to support alignment between Africa’s extractive sector and key continental and global benchmarks, including the Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063 and the African Mining Vision, while enabling more structured tracking of impact.

The side event aligns with the broader ARFSD-12 theme, Turning the Tide: Transformative and Coordinated Actions for the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063, reinforcing calls for coordinated and results-driven implementation across sectors.

Expected contributors include representatives of the African Union Commission, private sector stakeholders, sustainability partners and mining industry actors. 

Key focus areas will include gender-responsive benefit-sharing, women’s participation across mineral value chains, community-centred accountability mechanisms, responsible minerals within the energy transition and pathways for piloting the ARMGI framework.

Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, executive director, Women in Mining Africa, said the initiative reflects a shift towards outcome-based governance in Africa’s extractive sector, with emphasis on how mineral wealth translates into real benefits for women and local communities.

WiM-Africa added that the session will also serve to deepen stakeholder engagement and refine the development of ARMGI as a collaborative continental initiative.