1. Common issues and international trends
in social accountability and community
engagement in mining
Professor David Brereton
Deputy Director – Research Integration
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6. The State of Play in 2002
Few areas present a greater challenge than the
relationship between mining companies and
local communities. The legacy of abuse and
mistrust is clear.
Widespread community demands for
relevant, direct, and sustained benefits from
mineral wealth are a relatively recent
phenomenon, so frequently neither government
institutions nor companies or communities
themselves have been properly equipped to
respond to them.
MMSD Report Executive Summary xix -xx
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7. What has changed since 2002?
• Corporate policy frameworks of leading companies now contain
explicit social performance commitments.
• Greater acceptance of the business case for good community
relations
– ‘social licence’ now part of everyday discourse
• More focus on community development & social investment
• Human rights now squarely on the corporate agenda
• Growing emphasis on controlling bribery and corruption risks
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8. What does the future look like for the
resources sector?
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9. A rising tide of …
• Expectations
• Community activism
• ‘Hard’ and ‘soft’ regulation
• Scrutiny & accountability
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13. Growth in ‘soft’ regulation
• Does not rely on governments and formal law
• key mechanisms include:
codes, standards, principles, certification & assurance
schemes, reporting frameworks, etc.
• is often trans-national in scope
16. How leading companies are responding
• Trying to change how they engage
– broader
– more inclusive and less ‘top down’
– better grievance processes
• Seeking to do more in the community
development space
• Investing in building community relations
management systems and staff capacity
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17. Basic components of a management system
Policies, standards, guidelines
Multi-year planning cycle
Internal and/or external auditing and
review
Documentation processes
Individual accountabilities
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19. A model for a CR Management System
TRANSPARENCY
KNOW POLICY, PLAN
AND AND
UNDERSTAND IMPLEMENT
INCLUSIVE
ENGAGEMENT
RESPOND MONITOR
AND AND
COMMUNICATE EVALUATE
ACCOUNTABILITY
20. Improving corporate social performance in global
mining: some challenges
• Persuading companies to go ‘beyond compliance’
• Ensuring that the ‘social’ has an equal voice at the table in
project planning & management
• Achieving better integration across functions
• Enabling more effective collaboration
• Creating broader-based value for communities.
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Transparency + accountabilityInclusive engagement Sits at the CORE of the framework Engagement is internal and external Ensure that the community can meaningfully participate including marginalised groups Linked to all other dimensionsKnow and understand Get to know the community through – engagement + empirical analysis Understand the issues, including barriers and constraints to participation Processes include mapping, baseline, impact, risk etc. Engage with the community about findings Continue through each stage of mine lifePolicy, Plan and implement What is important – material issues high risk issues Planning based on policy, legal obligations, commitments and stakeholder engagement Integrate knowledge into objectives, targets, strategies and plans Develop and adjust SOPs with knowledge and understanding in mindNOTICE THAT THE ARROWS GO BOTH WAYS! (unlike traditional model)Monitor and evaluate Develop a monitoring framework, with locally agreed indicators + hyper norms Measure and evaluate progress of plans and programs against indicators Participatory where possibleRESPOND and communicate Respond to M&E results, and issues raised through engagement etc. Engage with the community about possibilities for change Communicate formally and be accountableDIFFERENCE IS AT FRONT END
