I was a novice when I went to Ghana and became involved in the social aspects of mine development for the first time. I didn't make a conscious decision to move from engineering to community, it just sort of happened. I actually went over to oversee some early on-site pre-construction activities but things didn’t go according to plan (the project ran into some unexpected permitting barriers) and I found myself dealing with the many community issues that came up - some easy to work through and others not so. The project did finally receive its approvals but not without a lot of angst and missteps.
My idea with the SLO-toolkit was to bring together experiences and lessons from my time in Ghana and since with the aim of creating an easy-to-use resource that is equally useful as a how-to guide for a new starter and as a memory jogger for a more experienced manager.
I'd like to think that these easy-to-do essentials will help you to take your first steps with a bit more confidence.
Guide
Quick Start
Companies wanting to operate responsibly, to systematically address the social challenges they face, earn their social licence and take control of their social risk are more likely to succeed when they stay focused on the company actions that determine social acceptance.
It is difficult to deliver full value to the bottom-line without a social licence to operate.
One approach for earning a social licence uses this simple cause-and-effect model.
Chances are you don't realise how much useful information is within easy reach.
When you go to site, cross-check your desktop work and also do the following.
Doing the right thing isn't complicated. These ten very simple actions will take you a very long way towards earning your SLO.
Check out the more resources tab for additional info and ideas.
More Resources
One Minute Social Licence
Over the years I've come to appreciate that while earning and maintaining a Social-Licence-to-Operate (SLO) is not something that comes for free it doesn't need to be complicated...
Reporting the social aspects that matter up to management, back to the team or out to regulators and community stakeholders is often seen as a nuisance whereas taking a systematic approach and clearly identifying what information needs to be shared and for what reason makes reporting a useful tool for keeping everyone informed. The aim needs to be making reporting as easy as possible.
Smart Reporting reuses the same information as much as possible. The number of local jobs and contracts, dollars spent, community concerns raised and addressed, quantity and quality of engagement is what most people are interested in seeing. Smart Reporting is often simply a case of presenting differently for each audience.
Reporting the social aspects that matter up to management, back to the team or out to regulators and community stakeholders is often seen as a nuisance whereas taking a systematic approach and clearly identifying what information needs to be shared and for what reason makes reporting a useful tool to keep everyone informed. The aim needs to be making reporting as easy as possible.
Smart Reporting reuses the same information as much as possible. The number of local jobs and contracts, dollars spent, community concerns raised and addressed, quantity and quality of engagement is what most people are interested in seeing. Smart Reporting is often simply a case of presenting differently for each audience.
Going into a new area to explore and ultimately build and operate a mine you start with high and positive expectations that you can work constructively with the local communities. Then it goes off the rails. Most often, with good intentions and a focus on an immediate issue, individuals in the company or in the community will take actions or make decisions (or fail to take actions or make decisions) that over time, cumulatively and progressively add up to major problems and consequences that are for the most part predictable – difficulties, costly delays and if it really goes badly, loss of the project. The good news is that taking some simple actions will give you far more control than you might think...
Since I made the decision eight years ago to work with junior and mid-tier explorers and operators I have been making the case that they can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs) and just as importantly, be recognised for what they do. As is my way, I started by for ideas to borrow and tweak. The ICMM references the SDGs in their good practice principles. Another good source was a think-tank report mapping mining to the development goals . More recently IPECA has published a guide for the oil and gas industry and the US FAO has incorporated SDG considerations into their sustainable forest management toolbox. All have been useful in one way or another, but they definitely reflect the capabilities and strategies of the big-end of town and overlook (or at least underplay) the shorter life-cycles, smaller physical, environmental, social and economic footprints, leaner management teams and lesser lobbying strength that are typical of mid-tiers and juniors.
If you are serious about managing social risk then establishing a quality social baseline is an absolute necessity. After all, if you don’t know the starting point you can’t measure the change...
If you're working on an overseas project and have never visited the site you'll be well served to make some pre-departure arrangements ahead of your first visit so that you can tick off the actions on your "what do I need to get out of my first visit checklist". The more advice, views and ideas you can gather early on the better informed you’ll be and the less likely it is that you'll make costly mistakes. I've "been there done that" and believe me, it is not a good place to be.
This short piece highlights a few simple actions you can take that will reduce your community-related project risk.
My suggestion is that whether you are taking on an existing project or you’ve acquired it through a purchase or takeover, the simple act of talking to your in-country site team can save you a lot of grief. If they are on-the-ball they will be a good source of information to help you get up to speed…
To put it simply, one of the most important actions you can take is to ensure your communities/community relations/social performance team is capable of supporting your business plan...
I've written before about ten must-do-actions for a stronger social licence. These come from personal experience working in company-community relations on mine sites in Africa. This new/different/alternative take on doing what matters comes from local communities, reflecting directly on their concerns for the well-being and development opportunities for individuals and the collective community...
Check-out the one-minute video before looking deeper into the need-to-do-actions to demonstrate the behaviour needed to establish trust and build relationships. Without trust and good relationships the likelihood of success (for the business generally and for community-facing activities in particular) is greatly reduced...
Social Licence to Operate is a mining industry concept. The expression was first used by Canadian Jim Cooney in 1997. This was a decade after the landmark 1987 Brundtland Report and a few years after the concept of the triple-bottom-line was first described by John Elkington. Its use has now spread well beyond the mining industry and as has happened with triple-bottom-line and sustainable development, the term "social licence" has been interpreted and used in many ways. Licence to Operate is currently seen by many as one of the biggest risks to the mining and metals industry, just as it was back in the 1990’s when Jim Cooney coined the term...
My social licence journey began in 2005 when I went to Ghana as part of a team planning to build a new mine. I had been working on the studies and design work for the company's Ghana projects for five years so I was very familiar with the project but not particularly familiar with Ghana which I had visited only three times, two of those being very short project kick-off trips. I was also a complete community novice, with Ghana being my first overseas assignment so, perhaps not surprisingly, I made plenty of mistakes and I learned a lot. What follows is a bit of a look back on some of the processes we put in place and the results we saw in three important areas...
A good way to spend an hour getting an introduction to how the performance standards work.
You'll find more useful IFC-generated information here.
PDAC First Engagement Field Guide
Many guides on community and stakeholder relations have been produced for extractive sector companies. The PDAC’s e3 Plus Framework for Responsible Exploration was the first resource designed for junior exploration companies, addressing their specific human resource, financial, and timeline challenges. More recently, additional resources like this one, have been created to support junior companies with their community engagement activities. This guide fills a gap by providing practical, step-by-step ideas that can be used at the site level.
William Ury, co-author of 'Getting to Yes', the go-to classic on negotiation walks through a five step process to use when the techniques for co-operative negotiation fail. Learn how you can:
Stay cool under pressure
Disarm angry adversaries and breakthrough resistance
Stand up for yourself without provoking opposition
This book has been written for corporate managers who are responsible for company operations in societies that are poor and politically unstable. Many such managers are frustrated with the situations they face. They try their best to run effective, profitable and beneficial operations that take account of the needs of all their stakeholders, including local surrounding communities. But, even with their best efforts, they encounter community dissatisfaction, unrest, opposition, and delays and, worse yet, threats and violence. Why does this happen?
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Luc while I was feeling my way during my early days in Ghana and am forever thankful for the lesson (obvious with the benefit of hindsight) that resource development by default creates tension and conflict, and that it is how companies approach conflict – as an opportunity or as a threat – that shapes the ongoing relationship between company and community. Some of the ideas in the book have been particularly sticky:
Relationships matter – at a personal and business level this seems a no-brainer but sometimes the connection seems to get lost when it comes to communities
Company impacts are never neutral – they can be negative or positive but from the time a company starts work on-the-ground it starts to create change
People everywhere get annoyed about the same issues – this one gave me a lot of comfort that I could be confident applying the ideas to my particular circumstances plus, the issues are not complicated – behaving appropriately, taking responsibility for impacts and fair distribution of benefits are the keys
Relationships require ongoing effort – again not really earth-shattering news, so it is somewhat surprising how often it happens that over time we take things for granted and it takes a nasty wake-up call to show us how far we’ve gone off the rails
Company actions shape the nature of relationships – this last one relates back to the third point, because the reality is that the three issues that most influence a relationship - impacts, benefits and behaviour – are all company-initiated actions, and it is totally within the company’s control to determine what it is going to do and how it is going to act
