Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the impact of ASGM on rural livelihoods and poverty reduction in North-West Tanzania with particular attention to the political economy of the sectoral land regimes and labour markets. To uncover this qualitative and quantitative from two mining sites is presented and analysed.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses the effects of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) on rural livelihoods and poverty reduction in North-West Tanzania with particular attention to the political economy of the sectoral land regimes and its labour markets. The paper draws on literature on the effects of ASM activities on livelihoods in Sub-Sahara Africa as well as on works on waged labour in non-farming activities in rural labour markets. This paper also analyses which actors hold land rights below and above the ground and socioeconomic implications of this. Literature on ASGM in SSA tends to under-explore the role of rural labour markets and waged employment, and the ways in which political and social factors shape distributional outcomes in the sector.

Hence, by addressing the role of labour and land in ASGM, my research explores the hierarchical structure of Tanzania's ASGM sector with a variety of labour and land regimes and its implications for economic agency and poverty reduction. To uncover this, a socioeconomic account, informed by attention to class relations and based on empirical data, is pursued.

Due to the paucity of data, I surveyed 160 households in two mining communities in North-West Tanzania, mapping ASM in the larger context of livelihood activities to assess its contribution to poverty reduction. Additionally, to uncover transmission mechanisms and processes within the ASM labour market in a meaningful way, 39 qualitative interviews with different stakeholders as well as with miners were conducted. All fieldwork was carried out during spring and fall 2019.