This, he said, was the surest way that they could press forward their needs for the required attention.

Dr Okyere, who is a researcher at the School of Sociology and Social Policy of the Nottingham University in the United Kingdom, said this at separate training workshops for mining communities in Ntotroso and Kenyasi Number Two in the Asutifi North District of the Brong-Ahafo Region.

The 150 beneficiaries were selected from Kenyasi Number One, Kenyasi Number Two, Ntotroso, Gyedu, Manu Shed and Yawusukrom. They were tasked to help identify the immediate needs of the communities and also to serve as agents of change.

The workshop is in line with 12-month project titled: "Change from below: building the capacity of local communities to advocate their rights," and it is being funded by the University at the estimated the cost of 6,000 pounds.

The Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), the implementing NGO, said the project was necessitated by a research conducted by Dr Okyere in 2012. The research dubbed: “Re-examining the education -child labour nexus: the case of child miners at Kenyasi," contributes to the debate linkages between education and child labour.

It also draws evidence from ethnographic fieldwork conducted with 57 children working at artisanal gold mining sites at Kenyasi and surrounding communities.Dr Okyere, who took the participants through lobbying and advocacy modules, said the international community and other NGOs are willing to support communities devastated by mining activities, but until those communities form alliances and fight a common purpose they cannot attract support.

He expressed discomfort that many children of school-going age were still involved in illegal mining adding that there is no excuse for such children to be engaged in small scale or illegal mining.Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GLOMEF, an anti-corruption focused non- governmental organisation, said the goal of the project is to build the capacity of residents in the beneficiary communities to enable them participate in public discourse on mining, land dispossession and social justice.

He expressed the hope that it would create a deeper and informed awareness of the debilitating socio-cultural and environmental effects of mining activities at the communities. Mr Ahenu said there is the need for the enhancement of knowledge and skills of the local people to enable them become active advocates and participate in policy formulation for the extractive sector.

The project, he said, sought to empower the locals to effectively campaign for action against the on-going environmental and socio-economic rights violation in the mining communities and beyond. It will also provide a platform for research findings to be fed into the programmes and policies of GLOMEF, Mr Ahenu said.