Leveraging national and global links for local rights advocacy: WACAM’s challenge to the power of transnational gold mining in Ghana

Abstract

This article examines how a community-based organisation in Ghana used local, national and international networks to challenge the power of transnational gold mining corporations and advocate for the rights of mining-affected communities.

Focusing on WACAM, the study explores how the organisation responded to a significant imbalance of power between local communities, mining companies and state institutions. WACAM combined local mobilisation with alliances involving like-minded organisations at national and international levels.

The analysis shows that these wider connections strengthened WACAM’s advocacy, increased its ability to challenge corporate and state power and provided support for local communities affected by mining. At the same time, the organisation sought to avoid becoming detached from the communities it represented by remaining strongly grounded in local struggles.

The article argues that WACAM’s relative success was shaped not simply by having international connections, but by the nature of those relationships and by its political commitment to rights-based advocacy and solidarity with affected communities.