ETHICAL AND STATUTORY ISSUES IN COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

QUESTION

Task – Planning a Community Consultation Project

Students need to submit a written plan for the community consultation project they intend on running in a workplace for assignment 2. The plan should include the following:

• Objective: A clear statement of the objective(s) of the consultation

Rationale: An outline of why the consultation should be undertaken.

Students should include any relevant background information they already know here.

Strategies and tasks: Students must choose at least one method of consultation for their project and then address the following questions.

1. Who will be consulted?
2. Methodology – how you will consult?
3. Who will be responsible for different tasks?
4. What needs to be organised?
5. What will be the cost of the consultation?
6. Where will the consultation be and what access issues need to be considered?
7. How will the consultation be promoted / advertised?
8. What is the duration of the consultation?
9. How will you seek feedback from the stakeholders about the consultation process?
10. What will happen with the information gained from the consultation?

• Ethical and Statutory Issues:

1. Students need to describe the ethical and/or legislative issues that community service workers need to be aware of when collecting and collating information from stakeholders.
2. Students need to describe how they will deal with these issues while  implementing this project

The report should address the following questions:

1. Stakeholders: Discuss who the stakeholders were you consulted and how many were consulted.

1. Consultation strategies: Discuss the consultation strategies you used and attach appropriate evidence.

1. Stakeholder participation: Discuss how effective the strategy was in maximising participation of the stakeholders in the consultation.

1. Promotion and advertising: Discuss the effectiveness of the promotion and advertising for the event.

1. Outcomes of consultation: Discuss the outcomes of the consultation. You should include a summary of  information or feedback gained from the stakeholders or participants.

1. Recommendations: What recommendations would you make based on the outcomes?

1. Benefits from consultation: How will the stakeholder group benefit from the consultation?

1. Feedback: How did you provide feedback to the stakeholders after the consultation?

1. Self-appraisal: How do you think you performed in the project? You should consider your strengths and weaknesses in both the planning and implementation of your project. You should also consider what you would do differently next time.

 SOLUTION

Introduction

This Planning a Community Consultation Project we will design a consultation project for the mining industry which is totally dependent upon the social, institutional and economic development of the community we live and work in. Mining being the most important natural resource which requires efficient consultancy requires proper engagement approach. The future success of this industry will depend how this consultation is implemented in the Mining industry. This project will show a brief outline of consultancy project every company should follow as suggested by McRae-Williams (2006).

Objective

The main objective behind designing or planning this community consultancy is to find out a one stop solution for all the rural mining companies or the regional mining companies to effectively manage community consultation throughout all the stages involved in mining. During all the stages of mining the explorers and the miners should consult all the community engagement strategies for effective success and longer survival.

Stages of Exploration and Mining:

• Inception
• Exploration
• Project approval
• Project Development
• Operation
•  Mine Closure

Various Engagement Strategies involved: Before implementing the strategies you should ask your company whether it has a consultation Plan and what position the consultation plan holds in the company.

1. INFORM: Inform the local inhabitants about the nature of project, changes, benefits, long term legacy and the impacts of the project.
2. CONSULT:  This is very important so that there is two way flow of information between community and the company.
3. INVOLVE: Throughout the whole process the company should work in direct contact with community, to tackle and handle major issues and concerns of the community time to time.
4. COLLABORATE: During mining operation company should foster major collaborations with community, so that they also hold important role in decision making while mining.

 Good Planning with Commitment is the most vital and first important step of efficient Community Consultation for any company. (McRae-Williams, p 2006)

 Rationale

Community Consultation involves taking the views of existing and the future customers very keenly. It involves giving information, taking views and feedback from the participants, formulating fresh and new ideas and giving an opportunity to the participants to influence the decision making process very actively.

In case of mining industry Community Consultation plays a vital role as it will help you in information partaking, paying attention to what the community wants to say, honouring and comprehending what impact exploration and mining will have on the community. Thus we can say that the rationale behind community consultation in mining and exploration industry will be of great help in creating a better understanding between community and mining industry and which will finally result in better growth in the mining business.

As per the mining industry the main community which they need to understand and inform are the inhabitants of the neighbouring and immediate cohabited areas. The Host community is the one which stays in the immediate vicinity of the area which the company is planning for mining or has some cultural closeness with that area or has direct ownership of the explored area by the mining company. The Affected community is the community which is directly affected may be in social or economic manner at the local level due to the mining activity of the company.

Thus it becomes all the more important for successful mining results that there should be perfect and effective community consultation done by the company.

Need for Community Consultancy:

• Handling expectations is very important so in order to ensure that the communities are well aware of the type of project, benefits, and long term impacts of project we need to deal with expectations of the communities.
• In order to enhance the confidence of the community by telling them about the development of project, involving stakeholders and collaborating with them we need community consultancy.
•  In order to guarantee the operational competence we need to make the local groups aware of all the process involved in the project , so that the existing operations go smoothly with their support today and in near future too.
• In order to guarantee a workable project design and good decision making in the project by involving local knowledge of the community and their views and concerns in studying the local are we can work out better project design and it will help in good decision making too.
• Lastly it will help in handling and solving the community issues and concerns at an early stage only.

Strategies and Tasks

In the mining company project we will use systems advocacy to implement the strategies. In case of systems advocacy we need to engage and work with the community to bring the major structural changes like legislation, policy etc. In this Systems advocacy approach we support underprivileged persons and groups by bringing structural changes we try to support them too. Thus this strategy is long term and has specific goals and is based on rock solid information.

 Benefits of Systems Advocacy Strategy:

• Helps in assessing the requirements of community
• Helps in locating and finding the stakeholders
• Helps in consultations
• Helps in partnering effectively and long term
• Helps in lobbying mineral and resources members of  Parliament
• Helps in working in close association with media
• Helps in getting a closer look at the political as well as environmental aspect of the surroundings
• Helps in working in both collaborative as well as in closed target groups

If we adopt the strategy of lobbying we will be talking to the bureaucrats and the power brokers related to the mining industry. Then while lobbying we need to get in touch with the minister related to mineral and natural resources portfolio, or the Member of Parliament handling this portfolio. Sometimes the Member of Parliament will show great interest if mining and exploration needs to be done in his constituency or if he has a vested interest like getting more votes in next election or if with the help of community he can create great impact and bog down his competitive anti party then he will work in perfect coalition with the mining company and talk to the community groups too.

We can also form a delegation which is a group of people which symbolise a particular cause or issue or organization. But for delegation to work perfectly it needs to have a highly knowledgeable person as part of team, who should write down all the points that needs to be discussed , take notes during the meeting and should be smart and intelligent to put his/her point across the table during the meeting.

Since we are planning for lobbying we need to influence the government and get desired result as planned during community consultancy planning. The lobbyist will be responsible for all the tasks involved. He will arrange for the meeting with the concerned Member of Parliament by sending fax, email or letter and request and arrange a meeting. Then try and meet the Member of Parliament in his electoral office as it will be cheaper and easier for you. The n send a fax or a brief letter asking for appointment. The letter should contain in brief your reason for meeting, issues which needs to be discussed and a brief range of times and dates when the meeting can be arranged and are suitable for you and him.

Be confident while discussing your issues and keep in mind that you live in democratic country where you have the right to put forth your issues and concerns. Try meeting the department heads, parliamentary secretaries and any other delegates the very same day so that you save time and money. Consult and read thoroughly whether the Member of Parliament supported or opposed the same issue in past or not. This meeting will be arranged in the parliament House so you can meet all the concerned persons then and there only.

Check out the media angle attached to your issue so that you can allow the minister to tab the media to highlight the issue. The ruling minister will definitely like positive publicity and even if it has something against opposition then too, the minister of natural resources will support and would like to use it to the fullest. You can take the feedback of the NGO’s involved in the community or the social groups working in the community to know their views about the issues. By knowing all the consultation issue the mining company can think of ways to sort them out and work in perfect harmony with the stakeholders and the community. The information gained will be helpful in finding out the major issues and concerns faced by the communities which the company can try to resolve in near future for a long term association.

Ethical and Statutory Issues

This means that the information regarding the clients cannot be used without their prior consent or knowledge. Same way the information collected by the consultations should not have any sensitive information about the client. It is not taken as ethical and becomes a major ethical issue if we ask personal experiences because we can just ask generally about the general information from the client. In the mining industry there are many risks involved at various stages.

While collecting any information which is copyright material they should mention proper reference and guarantee that they are not violating any copyright laws. On the basis of risks involved in mining sector there are five kinds of risk profiles:

• High Hazard/ low outrage risk
• Moderate Hazard/ moderate outrage risk
• Low hazard/ low outrage
• Low Hazard/ high outrage
• High Hazard/ high outrage

Based on their reactions there are four kinds of community groups identified in this sector, activists, Interested, Curious and Uninterested. In case of uninterested do not spend much time in involving then just inform them. Reach the curios very smartly using media and maintain lesser contact with the interested through media. In order to inform the interested better use newsletters, direct communications and meetings. Try to keep main focus on the activists.

References

• Environment Australia, 1995. Community Consultation and Involvement, Best Practice Environmental Management in Mining Series. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra
• International Council for Mining and Metals, 2005. Community Development Toolkit,www.icmm.com
• McRae-Williams,P 2006, A good practice guide for Victoriabn Explorers and Miners, Community Consultation Toolkit, Minerals Council of Australia.
• Wates, N 2000, The community Planning Handbook: How people can shape theri cities, town& villages in any part of the world, Earthscan , London, www.communityplanning.net.

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