Barrick Beyond Borders - May 2012 - Barrick Gold Corporation

EMPOWERINGCOMMUNITIESINTHEDOMINICAN REPUBLICMunicipal Development Plans pave way for economic developmentTo arrive at Barrick’s Pueblo Viejo project in the DominicanRepublic, you must first pass through Piedra Blanca, a smalltown of about 8,500 people that many locals refer to as the“gateway to the mine.”If you have time to linger, you will come across a lovely spotcalled Alberto Caamaño Park, named after a famous Dominicansoldier and politician considered a hero for his attempts torestore rightful government to his country. The park has a newstone-patio square covered by a wooden canopy with tintedwindows which shades patrons from the blazing Dominican sun.Last spring, there was no patio, canopy or tinted windowshere. Instead, Alberto Caamaño Park was a barren patchwork ofgrass and dirt that people had stopped frequenting years earlier.The $62,000 refurbishment of the park was the first publicwork inaugurated under the Piedra Blanca MunicipalDevelopment Plan (MDP), a unique and promising new modelfor corporate social responsibility (CSR) spearheaded by Barrick,60-percent owner of the Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation(PVDC), which manages operations at Pueblo Viejo.The park is one of dozens of community infrastructureprojects included in a five-year development plan for PiedraBlanca, one of six MDPs facilitated by PVDC in conjunctionwith municipal governments surrounding the mine. Thecreation of the MDPs represents a rare partnership betweengovernment, business and civil society. PVDC’s partners in theprogram include the Dominican Federation of Municipalities,the Regional Association of Municipalities of the SouthernCibao Region and the Canadian Embassy.The MDPs are a massive undertaking designed to helpcommunities set priorities for how to use mining revenue, aswell as develop the capacity to manage and allocate that revenuein a transparent and democratic way. The program stems froma 2007 Dominican law that requires municipalities to come upwith their own community development plans. PVDC helpedmove the program forward in 2008 when it began workingproactively with three municipalities in the mine area: Cotuí,Fantino and Maimón. In 2009, each municipality approved itsrespective MDP in local referendums.8May 2012