ICMM Guidance > Community Development Toolkit > Tool 17 – Local Economic Investment

Tool 17 – Local Economic Investment

Mining and metals projects can bring great benefits to local areas including stimulating the economy; they can also provide opportunity for women and marginalised or vulnerable groups. However, mines need to take care not to create a culture of dependency. Long-term sustainability depends upon encouraging communities to diversify their economies so they can maintain once the mine has closed.

Step Guide

STEP
1

Define local – you need to engage with the community relations team and the outcome of tool 1, to agree on the parameters you consider ‘local’

STEP
2

Consider local procurement as a method to ‘kick start’ local economic investments

STEP
3

Conduct a company self-assessment. Based on this assessment you will get an understanding of the gaps needed to be addressed to implement an effective procurement program

STEP
4

Identify the business case. For local procurement to be integrated, the business case needs to be clearly understood and agreed across the company

STEP
5

Define local again – it is critical you agree a definition of local for your local procurement activities

STEP
6

Create a local procurement policy which can be applied to both your own business activities and those of your contractors

STEP
7

Look at local employment opportunities, are there steps that can be taken to help improve opportunities for local employment within your project? Setting clear criteria for eligibility can be a critical element of managing in-migration

STEP
8

Is there a local employment policy or a national requirement to prioritise local employment?

STEP
9

Community skills audit (p145) – look at community skills and consider opportunities where these can be used or built upon through an education program

STEP
10

Contractor requirements – do you have clauses in your tender process that favour companies who employ locally or that require contractors to train local employees?

STEP
11

Are there community development programs you could support to help increase the likelihood of community members finding sustainable opportunities?

STEP
12

Diversify opportunities to avoid over dependency. This can be achieved though providing low-cost loans to other businesses, business advice and mentoring services not solely related to procurement activities, training courses and support services. Look at www.sirolli.com for an approach which relies upon never offering advice until being asked, thereby avoiding a handout relationship