[PDF] Community Development Toolkit - CommDev

Mining and community developmentcontinuedCommunity development and conflictCompanies can also play a catalytic rolewhen operating in conflict or post-conflictstates where investment from companiesmay be one of the few means of socioeconomicdevelopment. Robust riskmanagement and strategic communityinvestment in such contexts is critical.Risk management approaches shouldinclude (i) adhering to internationalstandards such as the Voluntary Principleson Security and Human Rights and applyingthe supporting Implementation GuidanceTools (IGT) 9 , (ii) considering the potential forinvestment to negatively affect the securityof local communities or exacerbate conflictsand (iii) drawing on existing guidance inthis area. 10Context is critical in conflict situations, soall community development activities needto be informed by the local environmentand adapted as the situation changes. TheIGT provides good advice for companies onhow to undertake stakeholder engagementin conflict-sensitive environments.Gender and inclusionUnderlying the use of the toolkit is animportant gender dimension. Typically,mining development has a gender biaswhereby most of the benefits (employment,income, royalties and infrastructureprojects) tend to accrue to men and thenegative impacts (cultural disruption, socialstress, environmental harm and domesticviolence) affect women and childrendisproportionately.Corrective actions are available that canredress this situation and improve theeconomic and social empowerment ofwomen and improve the well-being, safetyand security of both women and children.Increasing the proportion of women inemployment, for example, helps ensure abroader spread of community benefits.Greater attention to the gender aspects ofmining operations can help companies gainand maintain their social licence to operate,improve the quality of life and socioeconomicconditions of impacted andaffected women and men, uphold humanrights and minimize the negative impacts ofmining operations. Gender considerationsshould be integrated into social baselinesand impact assessments, stakeholderengagement and community developmentprogram planning, and in the monitoringand reporting on all of these activities.This should be done from the start, but if ithas not been, then specific studies andplanning processes can be undertaken toredress the balance. 11 Each stakeholdergroup (government, companies, communitiesand civil society groups) should examinetheir own activities to see how well gendersare represented and how much their viewsand concerns are taken into account indevelopment projects.MINING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT9 http://voluntaryprinciples.org/files/VPs_IGT_Final_13-09-11.pdf10 See International Alert, Conflict-Sensitive Business Practice: Guidance for Extractive Industries, London,March 2005, for more on this topic.11 For further guidance, see Rio Tinto, Why Gender Matters, Australia, 2009, especially Part 2: Guidance on“how to” integrate gender considerations into Communities work at Rio Tinto.Community Development Toolkit21