Agreements

Successful agreements

Successful agreements are those that build and sustain positive, mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships between indigenous groups and companies. Key defining factors include:

• Both parties view the process as fair and equitable
• Understanding there will be different views of importance and measures of equity and success
• Long-term development of goals and post-project sustainability is preferred to short-term compensation
• Providing intergenerational benefits for indigenous groups post mine closure
• Effective agreements should be flexible and provide a framework for governing the continuing relationship between project and indigenous community
• All parties should be willing to change and improve the agreement as circumstances require
• Proper implementation and monitoring of the agreement will add to the success

Managing impacts and sharing the benefits

For indigenous groups there are a number of benefits of entering into a negotiated agreement with mining companies; these include:

• Contribution to the community’s asset base
• Long-term sustainability of the community
• Greater community well-being due to sustainability of the community
• Employment and human capital
• New business opportunities
• Improving infrastructure
• Building capacity for community development
• Funding the recording of languages, stories and songs
• Establishing cultural meeting centres
• Supporting cultural workshops to maintain traditional skills and arts
• Sponsoring festivals
• Generating a market for traditional arts
• Incorporating cultural rituals into workforce inductions and company events

Components of agreements

The types of issues that can potentially be addressed in agreements include:

• Company support – not necessarily financial – in the development and implementation of community projects and initiatives
• Financial payments and disbursement arrangements
• Employment and contracting opportunities
• Impact management
• Governance arrangements
• Provisions that might be agreed in relation to the local community’s use of certain land
• The outlining of roles and responsibilities
• Mechanisms for implementing and monitoring agreements
• Mechanisms for grievances and concerns
• Objectives of agreements
• “Locking in” commitments

Implementation of agreements

Companies can implement agreements by ensuring:

• Agreement obligations are documented in an accessible form
• Responsibility for implementation is allocated at an early stage
• Someone from the company has overall responsibility
• Both company and community work together to achieve goals
• An up-to-date register is maintained to explain what actions have, and have not, occurred
• Continuous internal and external monitoring of compliance
• Capacity building of Indigenous Peoples remains a focus throughout the project cycle