Despite global gender equality gains ineducation, life expectancy, and labor force participation,two areas of persistent inequality remain: asset gaps andwomen's agency. In many developing countries, includingPapua New Guinea (PNG), land and natural resources arecitizens' key assets. This briefing note, centered onfield research in north fly district explores the process ofnegotiation and the progress in implementation of theCommunity Mine Continuation Agreements (CMCAs). The purposeof the research and the resulting brief is to understand howthe CMCAs came about, assess whether their promise is beingrealized in practice, and provide guidance for mining andgender practitioners looking to use mining agreements toimprove development outcomes for women, both in PNG andfurther afield. Revised compensation agreements at the OkTedi mine, called CMCAs, concluded in 2007 are anencouraging innovation. In these revised CMCAs, women had aseat at the negotiating table and secured an agreementgiving them 10 percent of all compensation, 50 percent ofall scholarships, cash payments into family bank accounts(to which many women are cosignatories), and mandated seatson the governing bodies implementing the agreement(including future reviews of the agreement). The 2006-07 OkTedi negotiation process and the resulting CMCAs wereinternationally groundbreaking for having secured enhancedrights for women in legally enforceable mining agreements,even in a context of severe gender inequality. Nevertheless,the gender asset gaps that persist in the midst of thecurrent global extractives boom highlight the need to engagewomen more proactively in mining agreements and supporttheir ability to exercise greater agency over thoseresources. More attention to the principles and experiencesof community-driven development, together with more localpolitical economy analysis, will likely benefit women'sengagement and outcomes.
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