ActionAid Liberia Youth Coordinator Joins Global Peers at 2026 Alternative Mining Indaba in South Africa
As part of efforts to continue sustained advocacy around mining and the extractives, ActionAid Liberia’s (AAL) Youth coordinator and lead on all climate justice program Norwu Kolu Harris has joined ActionAid counterparts and other global civil society leaders from around the world to participate in 2026 Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) taking place in Cape Town, South Africa.
The AMI which is a parallel gathering bringing together mining-affected communities, civil society groups, workers and activists to challenge mainstream mining narratives and highlight social and environmental impacts.
This year, the event is being held under the theme “alternative stories of mining,” and it’s taking place at Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyrln the Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa. Participants are drawn from ActionAid Denmark, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Power Shift Africa and the Tax Justice Network Africa.
The 2026 Alternative Mining Indaba is also seeking to elevate youth voices and leadership through platforms ensuring intergenerational perspectives to inform just transition strategies, create a space where the development of national Just Transition plans aligned with outcomes of the COP31, and that just transition work program (JTWP), with a specific focus on critical minerals governance and industrialization pathways can be achieved.
It is also in line with the advance practical implementation of the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap through targeted, sector-focused interventions, including strengthened domestic resource mobilization for industrialization and regional value-chain development.
Support accelerated ratification and domestication of the SADC Protocol on Trade.
SADC is the Southern African Development Community; a regional organization focused on socio-economic cooperation and integration among southern African countries. The SADC's goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 16 countries in southern Africa with primary objectives to development, economic growth, and poverty alleviation, and peacekeeping.
This initiative aims to institutionalize meaningful civil society participation in the review and modernization of the SADC Protocol on Mining. Liberia is richly endowed with natural resources, and the extractive sector accounts for over 50% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, despite its significant contribution to the economy, the sector generates only 16% of national revenue. This pattern is not unique to Liberia; similar trends are observed across many countries, where mining activities often leave local communities in persistent poverty.
The AMI is an assembly of largely Pan African network of communities and its international networks which comprises civil society, inter-faith groups, community-based organizations diverse groups of progressive organizations that converge annually from across the African Continent to reflect and strategize on legitimate concerns of communities impacted by extractives.
Over the years, the Alternative mining Indaba has exposed mining as a symbol of inequality. The lived experiences of the vulnerable communities in mining areas tell of the poverty and precarious conditions.