Civil Society Guide to the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism

Since 2018, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) member organisations in West Africa have dedicated great efforts to foster local content implementation in the mining sector. This has been done through the promotion of local procurement, which represents the “biggest single element in benefit distribution for communities and government”. Spending on goods and services is usually more than payments to governments, salaries and wages, and community investment combined.

With support from OSIWA, Mining Shared Value initiative of Engineers Without Borders and the International Secretariat of PWYP, four PWYP coalitions from Niger, Ivory Coast, Mali and Guinea have been implementing a project which aims to empower civil society organizations and other non-state actors to use Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism (LPRM) tool to monitor how mining companies give opportunities to local firms to supply goods and services within mining project sites.

The activities of the project include developing a guide for PWYP networks and other civil society organisations (CSOs) advocates for increased transparency in mining sector local procurement.

The guide provides CSOs with the necessary basic knowledge on mining procurement, as well as with practical steps and recommendations on how they can advocate for more efficient and transparent mining local procurement in their respective countries. The guide presents an overview of:

• What mining sector procurement entails, and why procurement is such a massive potential economic impact in mining host countries and communities 
• How transparency in mine site procurement processes helps empower suppliers and civil society, and improves governance given corruption risks in the procurement of goods and services by mine sites 
• The potential of the use of the Mining Local Procurement Reporting Mechanism (LPRM) and how CSOs can use data created by mine sites using the LPRM to advocate for better policy from government and mining companies 
• Comprehensive guidance for CSOs with options and suggested channels for advocacy governments and mining companies 

This guide helps CSOs in Africa and beyond to realize the full potential of local procurement in the fight for more inclusive mining governance, and it equips them to become active champions for the improvement of local procurement practices in their countries.