Government’s ban on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining, youth livelihoods and imagined futures in Ghana

Abstract

Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) represents a vibrant sector that provides direct employment and income to many people particularly the youth. In Ghana, concerns about ASM related environmental challenges led the Ghana Media Coalition Against Galamsey to start the #StopGalamseyNow Campaign. This resulted in enormous pressure on the government to impose a ban on ASM in 2017. Drawing on data from interviews conducted with fifty-eight ASM workers in two mining districts in Ghana, this paper examines the effects of the ban on the livelihoods and imagined futures of young miners who were previously engaged in the sector and the ways they navigate their uncertain futures. What emerges strongly from our interviews with young people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences is that, while ASM is a key sector that allows young people to build their livelihoods (earn income, accumulate assets), the ban has fundamentally re-structured the landscape of opportunities, leading to both social and economic consequences for young people. The ban had meant that young people could not imagine a future of new beginnings and possibilities for improved life chances including continuing to accumulate asset, invest in residential plots and buildings, or finance the cost of migration of children abroad. Mobility and exploitation of ’near and distant opportunity spaces’ through the support of social relations enable young people cope with hardships brought by the ban. These findings have important implications for policies seeking to promote youth employment in Africa.