According to the Newmont Africa’s 2016 Africa Sustainability Report,working with host communities to invest in education, health, local economic development, infrastructure improvements and capacity development programs, can help address challenges, catalyze long-term socio-economic development and minimize dependency on the mine during operations and upon closure.
“Our commitment to strengthen the comm Runities where we live and work, is stated in our Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement Policy. Guiding our approach to equitably improve quality of life and create mutual value, is our community investment and development standard,” the report states.
It also indicates that, sites must use existing baseline studies, assessments and government development plans, along with robust community engagement, to develop a community investment strategy that identifies each opportunity, along with the resources needed to deliver on the commitment. Each sit, it says must review and update its strategy a minimum of every five years.
In addition to the direct investments, the report noted their operations makes toward community infrastructure and social programs, their operations in Ahafo and Akyem have established community foundations or funds that supports community needs during and after the mine life. The foundation’s board includes community members to ensure community ownership and participation in the foundation’s efforts.
For all community donations, a transparent process is used to document and review each contribution to ensure compliance with the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
The report emphasised that, “we pursue partnerships with NGOs, development organizations and government agencies to ensure our investments, effectively address local challenges and opportunities.”
Among the notable investments and activities made by Newmont in 2016 includes, the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADeF), which supports developmental projects in the 10 communities near the Ahafo mine. Newmont contributed approximately $935.000 to NADeF, bringing the total contribution since 2007 to $24.5m.
During the year, NADeF in partnership with the Bright Generations Foundation established a bamboo bicycle manufacturing facility to train and employ youth from two communities. Where initial workforce of nearly 40 local youth, participated in six months training to prepare for the facility to enter full operations in in early 2007. The facility is expected to annually produce 375 bamboo bicycle frames for local and international customers.
Meanwhile, the Newmont Akyem Development Foundation (NAkDeF), which has a similar structure to NADeF, supports development in communities near the Akyem mine. Newmont contributed nearly $1.94m to NAkDeF in 2016 and a total of $5.8m, since 2013.
In 2016, NAkDeF launched the School Feeding Program, which provides free meals to kindergarten and primary school students and has contributed towards notable increases in school enrollment and attendance at the local resettlement school.
The Ahafo operation, the report enlightened that commissioned a third-party economic feasibility study to identify viable economic development enterprise, that generates jobs and grow the prosperity of the communities near the Ahafo mine. It says, the study prioritized options to stimulate local economic strategies to realize the opportunities.
“Building local industrial capacity is one of the most effective ways translate mining-induced development into diverse economic growth. At our Ahafo mine, we have worked with the government, host communities and local enterprises over the past decade, to identity qualified local suppliers and develop local capacity where gaps exist,” according to the report.
The report was clear that, in 2016, these efforts were recognized by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), as we as the Ghana Chamber of Mines, which named Ahafo the Mining Company of the Year, and in the part, because of its support for local content.
“Among the programs the AGI noted as important in building local capacity was the Ahafo Linkages Program (ALP), which we created in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), nearly a decade ago,” the report said.
The APL’s aim according to the report, was to develop local micro-small and medium-sized enterprises that provide goods and services to the mine as well as facilitating the development of non-mining businesses to support a diversified local economy.
Noting that, since entering into commercial production in 2006, the Ahafo mine has awarded contracts to around 500 local businesses through the ALP and other programs.
Companies that benefited from the ALP, are Alexiboam Company Ltd, Sarfpok Ltd and Evachap. They have themselves gone on to earn industry recognition for their commitments to safety and sustainable development.
NADeF also established the Women’s Consultative Committee (WCC) in 2008, to ensure women were consulted on decisions such as land access, job opportunities and community development.
The WCC is a community-led organization, made up of women that includes traditional tribal authorities such as queen mothers, elected representatives and association members. Aimed at skill training, capacity building, health awareness programs and also empower women economically through its self-help Fund which disburses loans to WCC members and other women in the Ahafo communities.
“When Newmont started mining here in Ahafo, they realized women in the area were quite inhibited. That was because, we thought that, as women, our only place was in the kitchen. We didn’t know about women’s rights, how to speak in public and we didn’t know we could do things that men do. Through the WCC trainings, I became an Assemblywoman, and I have also been recruited by Mission for Hope NGO, to educate the community on child rights,” said Mary Aboagye, the representative of WCC for Wamahinso.
By:Sammy Adjei/Newsghana.com.gh
