12 Nov 2007
Anglo American’s community development tools hailed as an ‘industry best practice’
Cover of the Isibonelo S.E.A.T. (Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox) Report
Anglo American’s Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT) represents an "industry best practice" according to Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), North America's foremost corporate responsibility NGO.
This is the latest in a series of accolades for SEAT, which governs the management of our relationships with host communities worldwide. Launched in 2003, it has been implemented at almost 60 Anglo operations worldwide and was recently made mandatory at all significant sites.
BSR was commissioned by Anglo American to provide an independent view of the impact of SEAT implementation on stakeholder relationships, internal management of social issues and community development initiatives.
Its main conclusions were:
- SEAT represents an industry best practice: Anglo American is not alone in recognising the value of engaging stakeholders and proactively addressing their key concerns and issues. However, BSR believes that SEAT offers a comprehensive level of detail and guidance for identifying and addressing socio-economic impacts
- Management responses align with sustainable development priorities, but it is too early to properly gauge long-term benefits: Many of the formal management responses and initiatives made by Anglo operations are still at an early stage of implementation so it was difficult to judge their contribution to sustainable community development. However, BSR noted that several Anglo American operations have achieved a marked shift from "philanthropy" to "strategic social investment," citing Anglo Chile's new enterprise development programmes as an example of this.
- Good SEAT assessments have positively affected community perceptions: BSR found a strong correlation between thorough SEAT reports and good community relations.
BSR also applauded Group Chief Executive Cynthia Carroll's announcement at BSR's recent annual conference that Anglo has decided to share SEAT more broadly by making it available on the company's website.
A key focus of the BSR research was to identify ways to improve the implementation of SEAT. Key findings included:
- Senior leadership is vital: BSR found that senior management involvement in the process was vital for successful outcomes
- Management measures need to be specific, measurable and have defined milestones to report against: Several of the SEAT reports reviewed by BSR were strong on analysis but lacked clear management actions, making it hard to judge successful outcomes Timely completion of reports builds trust and improves outcomes: BSR noted that some sites had not resourced SEAT reports adequately, with completion taking two years in one instance (compared with the recommended duration for a study of only 6 months and a requirement to repeat SEAT studies every three years)
- There needs to be a greater focus on closure planning: With mines having a finite life, BSR recommended that SEAT studies become a core part of planning for mine closure.
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