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Due to its geological framework, Katavi region is endowed with abundant mineral deposits of different kinds including gold, green tourmaline, gemstone, and copper Most of mining activities are conducted by small scale miners. Gold in the Region of Katavi are found in the following areas  Ibindi, Ugalla, Singililwa, Msagiya Kampuni and Mpanda town.

Miners and processors are a highly dynamic group of people. Particularly in gold mining, there are a lot of rushes in the Region of Katavi that may see thousands of workers come and go in a matter  of months. 1 in 3 workers arrived from a different region, and  many others travel within these vast regions in pursuit of employment opportunities. Often, sites have no adequate infrastructure to deal with the influx of workers. Over half of workers operate on a site that has a makeshift camp where workers live and sleep. 

When we visited most of the mining sites in the Region we found that women benefit considerably less from this mineral wealth than men. They remain stuck in lower level positions; they are mainly engaged in processing activities such as crushing and panning. Mining remains a patriarchal sector where men are protective of their positions. As sites are also ill-adapted to women, with, for instance, only few sites having separate sanitary facilities. Paradoxically, most sites cannot function without women, who provide the bulk of support services such as serving food, selling drinks, maintenance and transporting supplies. Another problem prevalent in the mining sites in the Region of Katavi is the problem of child labour. Although illegal, their involvement in mining is widespread. In about half of sites with child labour, children seen working during school hours.

Health and safety are a pressing concern in most mining sites.  There is no access to sanitary facilities in many sites, and where there are available, they are in poor condition or insufficient in number. Combined with the lack of clean drinking water, dust and noise pollution, mines are a breeding ground for numerous infections and disease.

Mining activities also severely impact the environment in Katavi through water pollution, deforestation and land degradation.

Considering these challenges, it is clear that considerable work remains to be done in enforcing the law on these sites. 

Good Harvest Organisation, in conjunction with the local Red Cross, are mapping the mining the mining sites by training its members and equipping them with mobile phones and open-source mobile data collection applications to capture coordinates, take  pictures and complete dedicated questionnaires, to bridge information gaps around mining in the region of Katavi. This will be done in two main phases.

The first phase will consist of a broad mobile survey on the socio-economic and human rights impact of mining in the region. we will survey all communities around mines on their perceptions regarding the impact of these operations. The findings of this data collection will be published and given to the key stakeholders.  This data will enable hands-on follow-up by the Government of Tanzania and local NGOs.  

Agriculture is the backbone of the rural economy in Tanzania and the families of girls at risk of FGM and GBV are farmers.

Although in theory there are networks of agriculture extension officers to help them, often in practice they are too far away to be of any use. Therefore, we were very pleased to learn of the PlantVillage Nuru app which seeks to help farmers improve their practice.  In February 2021 TDT  had an online training session for people interested in how to use this free app to detect Fall Army Worm (a pest for maize) and Cassava diseases which was attended by our volunteer and GIS specialist Herry Kasunga. 

Since then he has been out training our Digital Champions to use the app. As maize and cassava are the main staple crops grown in their areas this is particularly important.

Here you can see the Digital Champion for Burunga village, Agness Marinya checking her crops with the app.  She says, “It is an easy way to monitor crops and give you feedbacks on how crops grow, and I will provide training to other farmers in my village.

“With better agriculture people are less likely to need to cut their daughters and sell them for cows.  I have 3 children all girls. I am so proud of my work as a Digital Champion in Burunga, because there have been so much changes in my village.

“Now the number of girls who are cut is reduced. We all need to raise our voices to say no so our children can live free from FGM.”

The slides from our training session are here, and the recording here.  You can also view and download the slides Herry used for training the digital champions below.

Please watch this space for further updates on how this helpful app is being used in Tanzania. 

At the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team global conference on Friday December 4 2020, Herry Kasunga talked about the Water Source mapping project that he has been coordinating with the Hope for Girls and Women digital champions.

This is an extremely important project as the majority of people in Mara, as in the rest of Tanzania, are dependent on rainwater for household water, sanitation and to grow their food. It is also estimated that 40% of village water sources are degraded or non-functional. The shots below show some of the water points used by the digital champions:

In addition, climate change further threatens water access and means droughts and average temperature rises are likely, coupled with intense flooding events with significant damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, meaning mapping will become even more important.

Herry’s presentation slides are available here.