In the Political Trenches: Exploring Governance Arrangements for Local Community Participation in Malawi’s Mining Communities

Abstract

This study explores the complex governance issues present within Malawi’s mining sector for community participation by various stakeholders, including government bodies, mining companies, local authorities, mining communities, and other non-state actors. The study also assessed the effectiveness of existing regulatory frameworks, institutional capacities, and mechanisms for revenue distribution, corporate social responsibility, and information dissemination. From a sample of 371 respondents across 5 districts, the findings of this study show that 72.8% of community members are not aware of policies or regulations that govern the mining sector. The policies are also inadequately enforced to safeguard communities. On transparency of decision-making processes, 52.3% perceived that decisions within the mining sector are not transparent. On community involvement in decision-making, results indicate that 44.5% of other members of the community are involved, and 41.5 said no community member was involved. On the community member’s opportunity to express themselves, the study shows that 57.1% were never accorded the opportunity while 3% were very frequently given the opportunity. On representation in decision making processes, 59.0% said they are not represented at all. On social impacts, 19.4% indicated the destruction of houses/structures as the main impact. On environmental impact experienced as a result of mining, the weighted proportion of impacts was 27.8% for air pollution. The study concludes that while the legal framework provides a platform for governance arrangement for community participation, implementation of the same is weak and thus renders it ineffective. Actors in mining must ensure that governance arrangements are triggered for community participation because obtaining a mining license alone may not guarantee the successful implementation of a project; a social license is just as essential. Further, a mining project is of no use if the mining community is disenfranchised and obtains no tangible benefits locally. The study recommends that the legal framework regulating mining must be explicit on the participation of communities and that regularization of all these processes must be driven by the state to ensure transparency, accountability, participation, information access, labor market segmentation, reforms, and sector alignment.