Full Transcript:
We have gone to great lengths to make sure that we are engaging with communities in these areas and we are engaging in a way that ensures that those communities are selecting their own representation.
Those who represent them are providing the communities with feedback in relation with the discussions that go on in these committees.
We have three levels of committees. Firstly, there is village committee which is set up by the village chairman in collaboration with the area chief and they select their own committee members. They sit down and have discussions on a monthly basis to share information.
We provide them with updates, we make sure they understand the programs that are going on at site and the programs we are taking from a community perspective.It is not only that we have to advice people how we are mining, where we are mining, what is going on but it is also about making sure that they understand the scope and the breadth of the community development programs that we have in place.
There is a representative that attends the Liaison Committees (there are four of those) and this is where we bring in the broader regional representatives for political leadership, county leadership, administrative leaders and the community.
The discussions go from the village level up to Liaison Committee level. These are in place to make sure that there is continuity of the discussions and that the issues raised have a place to go. If they can’t be resolved at the village level, then, they need to go up and be discussed and resolved at the Liaison Committee level.
This is an avenue for everybody to participate and to get information for example the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining have representation in these Liaison Committee meetings and some of the grievances that come up are assisted by the Ministry representative explaining the law behind the mining and exploration.
That is it, that is the process that we have set up.
I am very lucky to be working for a company that certainly understands the value of including communities in the discussions and making sure they are considered as the core part of the business rather than a sideline.
This has been our policy right from day one. We make sure we have resources going into the community engagement departments.
When I first started off in mining, if you went to a mine you could very rarely find more than one person described as “Community Liaison Officer.”
Well, things are changing now. That was 20 years ago when I first came into the mining industry. I am not originally from the mining industry. Looking at it from that angle, we can say something has changed.
We built the community department to make sure that there were enough people to be able to manage all the community engagement and all the other aspects of community that we have for example with the community projects, development and community safety.
I am quite pleased for the commitments that we have from the board in order to make sure that we real do see our objectives being made in that regard.
we real do see that the approach is different from others and that we are able to demonstrate that, said Colin Forbes , General Manager – Environment & Community Affairs.
