Green Economy Journal Issue 41

MINING
Lessons learned
Creating an environment conducive to self-sustainable
community development during the life of mine
BY LISL FAIR, SRK CONSULTING
Livelihood resilience in mining communities is now more important than ever. New threats
to self-sustainable livelihoods in these communities have emerged in the past six months.
These threats include more mines choosing to reduce production
or remain on care and maintenance post-lockdown; worldwide
economic volatility; and the widespread socio-economic
consequences of the coronavirus pandemic affecting lower-income
families disproportionally. These factors beg the question: how can
development practices increase resilience and create an environment
for self-sustainable community development in mining footprint areas?
Key paradigm shifts in development practice are required, notably the
need to effect meaningful change that avoids perpetuating social injustice
based on historical narratives and economic imbalance of power. This
involves moving beyond paternalistic practices aiming to develop for, to
a participative asset-based process where mines create meaningful longterm
value with communities. The process of creating value needs longerterm
objectives, turning short-term ‘charity projects’ into self-sustaining
enterprises that help mining communities build resilience and withstand
fluctuations in mining activities. Success stories are rare, but sustainability
practitioners working to co-create resilient communities do have valuable
lessons on making this happen.
An important focus of good practice throughout the mining lifecycle
is on its social impact, and how a proactive process of concurrent social
self-sustainable development can make communities more resilient. This
necessitates a move away from community dependence on the revenues
flowing directly from the mining operation.
A non-traditional approach
Most mines contribute significantly to local social development projects,
either through regulatory requirements or through corporate social
investment (CSI) initiatives. Contributions are often made without
upfront consultation with recipients, effectively excluding recipients from
taking ownership throughout the project’s lifecycle. Examples of this
development approach are infrastructure projects such as schools or water
wells for communities. All too often, they are developed for communities,
with no clear community ownership and maintenance plan.
Traditional approaches to community development do little to create
self-sustainable communities. There have, however, been recent practical
efforts by mines to take a new approach to community projects –
supporting them to build a sustainable foundation for a future beyond the
life of the mine.
Sustaining early learning
An example of a project showing how this can be done is the Lesedi Early
Childhood Development Centre near Ivanhoe Mines’ Platreef Project in
South Africa’s Limpopo province. Initially funded by Ivanhoe Mines in
terms of the CSI mandate within the mine’s legislated Social and Labour
Lesedi volunteers in the tree nursery established to help make their early
childhood centre self-sustainable.
Plan (SLP), the centre has developed a path that supports its independence.
Started in 2011 as a volunteer organisation, Lesedi was supported by
the mine in a five-year multi-pronged engagement from 2014 to 2019.
The support included training courses starting in 2016 – on leadership,
childcare and catering – that would foster self-sufficiency. Lesedi and the
mine also collaborated on an enterprise approach to generate revenue,
starting a tree nursery in 2017. In 2018, the self-sustainability training
continued with a process of asset mapping, business viability testing, and
a micro-MBA small business course. The project expanded its nursery in
2019 and sought funding from other social development funds.
From our experience, creating self-sustainable community development
is most effective if started early in the mine life-cycle. To foster this process,
an innovative ‘Self-Sustainability Toolkit’ has been developed to help
project teams consider self-sustainability right from the start. This toolkit
is applied within a framework covering the full project life-cycle, from
initial consultation phases and benchmarking through to project selfmanagement
and independence.
The instrument tracks self-sustainability interventions and helps
evaluate existing projects against self-sustainability actions. It also poses
questions such as these: Did the beneficiaries initiate or request the
proposed project – at least in broad concept? Did the project team involve
the beneficiaries in the project planning and design? Do the project
beneficiaries understand that the ultimate aim is for the project to be
financially self-sustainable? Did the beneficiaries receive training in basic
project and business management?
The practical lessons in creating self-sustainable social development
projects learned in the mining sector to date have been valuable. They
should be shared, adapted, and emulated – where appropriate – as we
continue to build good practice in this important field.
24 greeneconomy.media