BRACE Trains Paralegals to Fight Injustice in Mining Communities
A four-day paralegal training workshop concluded in Fumesua, Ashanti Region, bringing together 30 women and youth from mining-affected communities across five regions of Ghana. Organized by Wacam in partnership with A Rocha Ghana and the Nature and Development Foundation as part of the BRACE project, the program equipped participants with foundational legal knowledge and advocacy skills.
The curriculum covered essential topics including mining legislation, human rights monitoring, access to justice, alternative dispute resolution, and Free, Prior and Informed Consent principles. Participants learned practical approaches to addressing community grievances and cost-effective legal support mechanisms.
Wacam's Associate Executive Director emphasized that development frameworks often overlook environmental protection and treat vulnerable communities as development instruments rather than primary beneficiaries, highlighting ecosystem services — including medicinal biodiversity value, water purification, and crop pollination — that generate substantial socio-economic benefits.
Legal experts distinguished the paralegal role as providing basic legal advice to communities while stressing that paralegals cannot practice law independently. A lecturer from the University of Cape Coast underscored how mining disproportionately affects women, who often lose farm-based income sources and face exclusion from decision-making and benefit-sharing arrangements.