Download Objectives of SAWIMA - Amazon Web Services

BRIEFING BY THE DEPARTMENT ON
SAWIMA AND THE INTENDED
OBJECTIVES ON ESTABLISHING THE
ORGANISATION
23 NOVEMBER 2011
1
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
•
•
•
•
SAWIMA as an organisation came about during a time,
after the White Paper on Mining and Minerals, when
transformation and de-racialisation of the economy was
key.
Government at the time, was designing programmes
addressing needs of women, as part of the vulnerable
groups.
Mining and Minerals due to its history, was male
dominated.
Institutionally, gender focal points and later on, Special
Projects and Programmes component, within Corporate
Services – served as a contact point.
2
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
SAWIMA
•
•
•
•
In line with all government Departments as mandated by the
Presidency the Department of Minerals and Energy has developed
programmes on vulnerable groups namely; Women, Youth,
Children and the Disabled.
The support that the Department of Minerals and Energy provided
to women, was informed by a realisation then that there was an
alarming absence of women’s participation in the mining and
energy sectors.
A vision was developed to see more women assuming an
important role in the mining and energy industry.
To this end in 1999 the Department of Minerals and Energy
facilitated the establishment of the South African Women in Mining
Association (SAWIMA). This was set up as a vehicle to help
mobilise women to participate in mining.
3
OBJECTIVES OF SAWIMA
Since its establishment, SAWIMA drew up its own Constitution, which
highlighted the following objectives:
• Mobilizing women in mining in the formal and informal
organizations and the mining sectors to be active members of the
Association and the mining sector;
• Establishment through research, meetings, seminars and
workshops the women miner’s needs, interests and problems, thus
identifying and carrying out programmes to redress them;
• Lobbying for support and recognition of women in mining
provincially and nationally;
• Identifying training and technical needs of women in mining and in
collaboration with relevant and interested organizations and also to
conduct training to address the needs;
• Collaborating with relevant and interested organizations to train
women who are currently involved in the informal mining sector to
pursue appropriate mining methods and participate in minimizing
environmental degradation;
4
Objectives of SAWIMA
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lobbying for the acceptance of prospecting and mining licenses as
collateral security for loans by financial institutions;
Interacting and networking with institutions involved in mining and
having interests, similar to those of the Association nationally, in
order to share experiences and ideas in mining;
Establishing data base and resource centre having information on
mining locally and internationally, to enable women in mining to
access and use the information;
Pulling resources where necessary for the benefit of members;
Establishing links with local and international technical advisory
service organizations in order to access volunteer technical
experts;
Facilitating where possible the marketing of member’s mining
products nationally and internationally; and
Carrying out such activities as would enhance the position of
women miners in South Africa.
5
MEMBERSHIP, STUCTURE AND FUNDING
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Membership is open to all women who are interested in mining.
Members have to affiliate as individuals or companies. The
members had to pay a membership fee for individuals as well as
for individual companies.
SAWIMA can best explain where it membership stands today
STRUCTURE - the Association is constituted of a National
Executive Committee and Provincial Representative Committees
SAWIMA held its elections, in September 2004 at the Eskom
Conference Centre, and others subsequent to that. SAWIMA can
also explain their regional structure.
The National Office is situated in Johannesburg; they are
occupying offices, which were donated by the Chamber of Mines.
The Association sources it’s funding from the membership fees.
6
SAWIMIH
•
•
•
SAWIMA set up an investment company to expedite the
participation of women in the economic growth of the
mining sector. This was because of challenges associated
with a non profit organisation participating in economic
activities.
The investment wing (SAWIMIH) was launched in 2003.
It was expected that for members to have shares in
SAWIMIH they should first be members of SAWIMA.
SAWIMA will own 20% of the shares in the company, with
individual SAWIMA members owning 60% share in the
company, and the rest by a strategic partner.SAWIMIH
participated in a number of mining transactions or deals,
such as Incwala, etc.
7
CAPACITY BUILDING
•
•
•
•
•
The Department of Minerals and Energy provided support
for capacity building programmes as part of empowerment
of women in the mining sector.
The training was facilitated through the Minerals and
Energy Education Training Institute (MEETI).
The Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) contributed
funds and provided training for the SAWIMA throughout the
9 regions.
The DME facilitated a training programme on Jewellery
manufacturing and pottery making for 16 women in India
during 2004. The programme was supported by TATA
International.
Annually, DME integrated support for SAWIMA in its
women’s month activities, including Technology for Women
in Business( TWIB).
8
CONCLUSION
•
•
•
•
•
Similar structures were also established (in the days of
DME) to assist women in other sectors such as energy,
through WOESA and WINSA.
When DMR was established, we changed our approach
and broadened this to focus on entrepreneurs.
It must be mentioned that there are other women structures
or organisations also active in the mining space.
The DMR and the Minister remain committed to women
empowerment.
This is evident in the amended Mining Charter and the
approach taken towards targets set in the document.
9
THANK YOU
QUESTIONS?
10