Women in Extractives & Green Enterprise
Safer work. Stronger enterprises. Women leading change.
In extractive communities, women are already contributing to the economy — often while carrying disproportionate risks and receiving too little of the opportunity. MentorSpace works to help change that through practical skills, safer mining practices, enterprise development, financial capability, leadership and environmental stewardship.
Women are part of the mining economy. They should also share in its safety, leadership and value.
Women play meaningful roles across artisanal and small-scale mining, including processing, washing, panning and other stages of the mineral value chain. Yet many face barriers to assets, finance, decision-making and safer technologies.
UN Women identifies women’s economic empowerment as a direct pathway toward gender equality, poverty reduction and inclusive growth. In Africa, UN Women also explicitly highlights women’s participation in and benefit from the extractive industry as part of the economic empowerment agenda.
MentorSpace’s response is practical: help women gain the knowledge, tools, business capability, safety awareness and leadership opportunities that make participation more rewarding, more resilient and more sustainable.
Women, livelihoods and opportunity — from the community itself.
See a glimpse of the realities, people and communities behind MentorSpace’s Women in Extractives & Green Enterprise programme.
The challenges are local — but they are recognized globally.
MentorSpace is locally grounded. The programme themes also align with issues recognized by leading international institutions.
Women’s economic empowerment
UN Women links women’s economic empowerment with gender equality, poverty reduction and inclusive growth, including participation in extractive industries.
Explore UN Women Africa →Women in artisanal mining
UNEP’s Global Mercury Partnership notes that women make up a significant share of the artisanal and small-scale mining workforce and often work in processing roles.
Read the UNEP resource →Mercury & health
WHO identifies mercury exposure as a serious health risk and notes that artisanal and small-scale gold mining can expose workers and nearby communities to toxic mercury vapour.
Read WHO guidance →Safer mining
The ILO promotes the right to a safe and healthy working environment for mineworkers and highlights the need for greater inclusion of women in mining.
Explore ILO mining resources →Six pathways to safer, stronger and more sustainable livelihoods.
Technical & Processing Skills
Build practical understanding of safer extraction, processing, productivity and more efficient ways of working.
Occupational Safety & PPE
Strengthen awareness of workplace risks, protective equipment, safer practices and a culture that treats safety as essential.
Enterprise Development
Help women strengthen business planning, pricing, record-keeping, market readiness and enterprise management.
Financial Capability & Inclusion
Build practical financial literacy, savings habits, investment readiness and stronger pathways to productive finance.
Leadership & Collective Voice
Support women to participate more confidently in associations, cooperatives, community decisions and resource governance.
Green Enterprise & Restoration
Connect livelihoods with responsible resource use, land restoration, waste reduction and environmentally sustainable enterprise.
A livelihood should not demand an avoidable price in health.
Mercury is widely used in artisanal and small-scale gold mining because it can bind with gold during processing. But the health risks are serious. The World Health Organization has documented environmental and occupational health hazards associated with artisanal and small-scale gold mining, including considerations specific to women and children.
UNEP’s Global Mercury Partnership also identifies artisanal and small-scale gold mining as a major source of mercury pollution and promotes approaches that reduce or eliminate mercury use while protecting livelihoods.
MentorSpace’s safety focus includes:
- Occupational health and safety awareness
- Correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- Safer handling and processing practices
- Mercury-risk awareness and exposure reduction
- Environmental health and community awareness
- Building a stronger workplace safety culture
Prosperity and restoration should move in the same direction.
Extractive livelihoods and environmental stewardship do not have to be opposites. MentorSpace’s green enterprise approach connects income generation with practices that reduce harm, restore degraded environments and create alternative or complementary livelihoods.
From exposure and exclusion toward agency, safety and opportunity.
Impact is stronger when women gain both capability and control.
Safer Work
Greater awareness of occupational risks, safer practices and correct PPE use.
Stronger Enterprises
Improved business management, savings habits, market readiness and enterprise growth.
Financial Inclusion
Greater financial capability and stronger pathways to productive finance and investment.
Leadership & Voice
More confident participation in associations, cooperatives and community decision-making.
Environmental Action
Restoration, cleaner practices, responsible resource use and green enterprise development.
Household Resilience
More diversified livelihoods, stronger economic agency and better ability to absorb shocks.
The right partnership can make safer opportunity scalable.
MentorSpace welcomes organizations that want to support women in extractive communities through funding, equipment, technical assistance, research, financial inclusion, market access, safety training, environmental restoration or green enterprise development.
The strongest partnership is not simply a transfer of resources. It combines local knowledge with specialized expertise and shared accountability around outcomes.
Start a Partnership ConversationWays partners can contribute
- Fund women’s enterprise and skills development
- Provide PPE, tools and safer processing technologies
- Support mercury-risk reduction and cleaner production
- Expand access to finance and savings mechanisms
- Strengthen market linkages and value addition
- Support land restoration and green enterprise
- Contribute research, MEL and technical expertise
Safer livelihoods become real through skills, enterprise and leadership.
These images reflect the programme’s emphasis on women’s participation, enterprise capability, safer work and environmental responsibility in extractive communities.
Advancing women’s opportunity while protecting people and planet.
Help women turn participation in the extractive economy into safer, stronger and more sustainable prosperity.
Fund skills. Equip safer work. Strengthen enterprises. Expand access to finance. Support restoration. Partner with MentorSpace to help women lead the next chapter.