Women in Mining Africa (WiM-Africa) has called on African countries to invest in the education and skills of children and young people to ensure that the continent does not continue to export raw minerals while importing the expertise needed to develop its natural resources.
The organisation said Africa’s mineral transformation must go beyond extracting resources and attracting investment to deliberately building the human capital required to drive exploration, processing, value addition, environmental management, technology and responsible mining.
WiM-Africa made the position known as it advances its continental NextGen programmes under its Action Plan 2030, with a recent engagement with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Liberia opening discussions on country-level collaboration and possible integration of the programmes into the country’s education system.
The organisation said the Liberia engagement formed part of its broader Africa-wide initiative to prepare children and young people for meaningful participation in the continent’s solid minerals, critical minerals and natural resource economy.
Its two flagship programmes are the WiM-Africa Future Minerals Leaders Club, targeted at primary school pupils aged eight to 13, and the WiM-Africa NextGen Mining & Leadership Academy, designed for secondary school and TVET-linked institutions for young people aged 13 to 20.
The Future Minerals Leaders Club introduces pupils to natural resources, minerals, environmental responsibility, safety, leadership, teamwork, values and responsible citizenship through age-appropriate school activities.
The NextGen Mining & Leadership Academy, meanwhile, focuses on responsible mining, geoscience awareness, environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles, mine safety, gender inclusion, leadership, communication, mineral value chains, entrepreneurship, career readiness and mentorship.
Speaking on the initiative, Executive Director of WiM-Africa, Dr Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, said the continent could not afford to wait until young people reached universities or the labour market before exposing them to the opportunities and responsibilities associated with its vast mineral resources.
“The future of Africa’s mineral and natural resource economy will not be determined only by what is in the ground. It will be determined by what is built in the minds of children and young people today,” she said.
Asokoro-Ogaji said Ministries of Education had a critical role to play in developing Africa’s future minerals leadership pipeline.
“The Ministry of Education is not peripheral to mining transformation. It is foundational. Africa must begin earlier — from primary school, secondary school, TVET, mentorship, school clubs and structured leadership exposure,” she said.
According to WiM-Africa, the programmes are designed as flexible and modular interventions that can complement existing national education priorities rather than operate as parallel systems.
It said they could be integrated into school clubs, STEM promotion, TVET preparation, girls’ education, career guidance, environmental awareness, learning enrichment and education-to-employment transition programmes.
The organisation said it recognised that African countries had different education systems, natural resource endowments and development priorities. It therefore planned to work with individual Ministries of Education and relevant government agencies to adapt the programmes to local needs.
WiM-Africa said the initiative was also aligned with broader African priorities on solid and critical minerals, including the Africa Mining Vision, local beneficiation, value addition, responsible mineral governance, women and youth participation, green skills, ESG awareness and TVET development.
It stressed that Africa’s transition from a predominantly raw-resource export economy to one driven by knowledge, innovation, processing and value addition would require a deliberate investment in the next generation.
To facilitate wider adoption, the organisation said it had developed implementation manuals, concept notes, session modules, facilitator guides, reporting tools, country adaptation templates and results frameworks for the two programmes.
It said the materials were being made available as free, open-source resources to Ministries of Education, government agencies, public and private schools, rural schools, mining host communities, TVET institutions, women-in-mining organisations and other implementing partners across Africa.
Schools and institutions adopting the materials are encouraged to submit implementation reports containing activity updates, attendance records, photographs, progress reports and lessons learned, the organisation said.
Such reports, according to WiM-Africa, would help strengthen continental tracking, quality assurance, visibility, learning and technical support.
The organisation also said it was prepared to provide technical assistance through its pool of expert volunteers, including virtual training-of-trainers sessions for teachers, school focal persons, volunteers and implementing teams where funding for physical programmes was unavailable.
WiM-Africa urged Ministries of Education, government agencies, schools, TVET institutions, local authorities and mining host communities across the continent to join the initiative.
It also called on development finance institutions, philanthropic organisations, foundations, mining companies, education-sector partners and development agencies to support Ministries and relevant government agencies in adapting, piloting and scaling up the programmes.
The organisation said every African child, whether living in a mineral-producing community or not, should understand the value of natural resources, environmental stewardship, national development and the career opportunities available across the continent’s mineral and natural resource value chains.
It said its ultimate objective was to help build a continent-wide pipeline of informed, skilled, confident and responsible young Africans capable of leading Africa’s next phase of mineral and natural resource transformation.
