NIWIMNRO and AFA Join Forces to Boost Inclusive Mining in Nigeria

In a big move to promote fair resource management and ensure mining investments help local communities, the Nigerian Indigenous Women in Mining and Natural Resources Organisation (NIWIMNRO) and the Africans for Africa (AFA) Initiative have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This agreement aims to strengthen teamwork in Nigeria’s mining sector.

The deal was signed last Wednesday at the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS) 2026. It sets up a partnership to make sure mining investments are responsible, consider gender, and truly help community development.

This partnership goes hand in hand with AFA’s 51 percent African Benefit Mandate and the MADE Framework for Sustainable Resource Development. Both of these seek to boost local participation and shared benefits from Africa’s resources.

Speaking about the importance of this agreement, representatives from both groups said this partnership shows a shared goal of changing the mining sector into a source of economic growth for everyone, especially for indigenous women and communities that host mining activities but often miss out on the benefits.

Under this agreement, NIWIMNRO will be the main strategic advisor to AFA on community development and social impact projects related to mining investments in Nigeria. The organisation will help create a detailed Community Development Agreement (CDA) Framework. This includes designing social impact measures, assessing the socio-economic situation in mining communities, and creating gender-focused investment strategies to meet the needs of vulnerable groups.

A key part of this partnership will be to improve the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. Both organisations plan to work together to help indigenous women miners form cooperatives. This will help them take part in formal business deals and access new economic chances in the mining value chain.

The collaboration will also set up mineral aggregation hubs. Here, materials like lithium, gold, and tin can be collected, graded, and connected to AFA-supported global supply chains. Through this, women miners and local communities should gain better market access, technical help, and more economic involvement.

NIWIMNRO will also act as AFA’s Official Implementation Partner for community-focused projects in Nigeria. This role means overseeing health, education, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) projects funded by mining royalties. NIWIMNRO will also serve as a key link between investors and community leaders to build trust and keep the social licence needed for sustainable mining.

NIWIMNRO’s Executive Director, Felicia Dairo, commented on the partnership. She called the agreement a significant step forward for gender-inclusive development in Nigeria’s mining sector.

“This partnership shows that mining investments can and must create value beyond just extracting minerals. By including women in mining value chains and ensuring that host communities gain from resource development, we can create a more fair, sustainable, and prosperous sector that benefits everyone,” she said.

Through this partnership, AFA promises to focus on projects that include NIWIMNRO’s cooperative model and to support investments in facilities that add value, such as processing plants that create jobs for local miners and communities.

For NIWIMNRO, this agreement strengthens its mission to empower women miners through advocacy, skill-building, community development, and policy work. The group has been actively pushing for initiatives that improve women’s access to jobs, health services, safety measures, and decision-making roles in the mining industry.

To ensure that everything runs smoothly, both organisations will create a Joint Steering Committee. This committee will meet every three months to check on progress, review results, and guide the implementation of combined projects.

The MoU will last for an initial three years, with chances for renewal and growth depending on how successful the collaboration is.

The partnership between NIWIMNRO and AFA is an important step towards achieving a vision of resource development that is fair, just, and focused on shared benefits.