Community-Company Vision Statement for Social License to Operate

Challenge the practice is addressing: The Community-Company Vision Statement is a part of relationship-building activities that the MIREU project has developed for the Social License to Operate Toolbox. The practice provides guidance for the engagement activities companies could initiate with local communities in order to build Social License to Operate for their future activities.

Concrete practice to achieve the expected goal: The practice helps communities and companies to voice their views and expectations regarding the potential future mining operations in the designated area. The tool is in a template format. It includes the following Community Vision Topics: 1) Company Behaviour, 2) Community Identity and 3) Community Well-being, which function as thematic areas the discussion between stakeholders should ideally cover. Next, the questions such as ‘What kind of a vision do you have for the future development of this region? Is mining part of it?’ and ‘Do you think your voices are being heard by the project management?’ are listed to help the stakeholders to cover all thematic areas and key points. The template also has a column to showcase European good practice examples that correspond with the Community Vision Topics.

Expected impact/goal of the practice: The expected impact of the practice is to initiate conversation between the affected communities and mining companies aiming to conduct activities in the area. The aim of the vision statement is not to come to a binding agreement about any of the future activities, but it works rather as a tool to help both stakeholders to list their visions and expectations.

Who is the target user group of the practice/intervention or implementing the practice/intervention? The target group of the practice are companies aiming to connect with local communities.