Resilience in Advocacy: The Inspiring Journey to Reform the Mining Code – Story of Mr. Clement Rabenandrasana

Posted on 19 September 2023

We succeeded in getting this new mining code adopted with several of our recommendations considered.

In June 2023, during a sharing session organized between WWF and OSCIE on the long-term advocacy process for the revision of the mining code, a question was posed by a staff member of WWF Madagascar to Mr. Clément Rabenandrasana, the Executive Secretary of OSCIE.

Here is the question: 'Beyond the technical aspects and the influence you have exerted, could you share with us anecdotes or situations that have inspired you, made you proud or sad as a human being, and contributed to the adoption of the new code?'

Mr. Clément's responses can be summarized as follows:

'There were ups and downs. In 2018, during the electoral period, no one seemed to care about the revision of the code, but we continued our activities through strengthening our network. In 2019, we encountered barriers in our advocacy efforts: malagasy government showed no willingness to listen to or consider the recommendations of civil society while at the same government decided to organize a sham of national consultation, inappropriate and unfair. CSOs decided to boycott the national consultation through a striking action at the opening of the consultation. The situation was sensitive because, in front of an audience of 1000 participants (private companies, government bodies), through me, CSOs spoke out openly against the government's proposed revision process before leaving the auditorium. All representatives of civil society left the meeting room. As a human being, I felt great stress. The next day, this action made headlines in all the media: 'Civil society withdraws from the government-led consultation.' It wasn't easy. The Minister of Mines was very upset and reprimanded us. We even feared being imprisoned as a result of our actions. Our move was a shock to the mining authorities, as they thought everything would go smoothly, even though no decision had been made when civil society representatives left the room. Ultimately, we were not imprisoned as we had feared, but the ministry contacted us to organize a roundtable discussion about our future collaboration. As a result, a steering committee was established in February 2020, with all the necessary provisions for dialogue. Between late 2019 and February 2020, we faced challenging moments, as many people contacted us. Some congratulated us, while others criticized us. At least it led to the organization of a roundtable. In August 2021, the process faced further obstacles, and we were very discouraged, fearing a setback. Despite this situation, we intensified our advocacy efforts, issued press releases, and held meetings. The process resumed in 2022. When submitting the bill to the National Assembly, we were specifically approached, consulted, and mentioned in the commission's minutes, despite the reluctance of some actors, especially from the private sector. You know the rest of the story: we succeeded in getting this new mining code adopted with several of our recommendations considered.'