About this section

This section provides guidance and tools for managing relationships with stakeholders. Under the Social Way, every Anglo American site should engage with stakeholders on an ongoing basis across all stages of the asset lifecycle. 

Specifically, this section:

• outlines the rationale and principles that underpin Anglo American’s approach to stakeholder engagement
• assists sites in the identification, mapping and analysis of stakeholders
• details the requirements for a Local Accountability Mechanism and an a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP)
• provides guidance on ensuring engagement respects Inclusion and Diversity principles
• describes the roles and responsibilities of different functions and the co-ordination and cross-departmental collaboration required.

Box 3A.1 International standards

IFC PS 1

“Stakeholder engagement is the basis for building strong, constructive, and responsive relationships that are essential for the successful management of a project's environmental and social impacts. Stakeholder engagement is an ongoing process that may involve, in varying degrees, the following elements: stakeholder analysis and planning, disclosure and dissemination of information, consultation and participation, grievance mechanism, and ongoing reporting to Affected Communities.”

UNGPs

“To enable business enterprises to assess their human rights impacts accurately, they should seek to understand the concerns of potentially affected stakeholders by consulting them directly in a manner that takes into account language and other potential barriers to effective engagement.”

Intended users

The intended users of this section are primarily the Social Performance teams. However, other functions involved in stakeholder engagement, notably Human Resources, Security and Health, Safety and Environment (SHE), should familiarise themselves with this guidance (see 3A.1 Introduction, Multi-disciplinary approach). It also applies to certain contractors.

Relevance to other sections

Ongoing stakeholder engagement is fundamental to all aspects of social performance and underpins and informs every section of the Social Way. It lays the foundations for sites to prevent and/or manage their impacts and risks and to contribute to the well-being of stakeholders.

The Social Way components are interconnected: each has requirements, processes and action plans that require ongoing, close internal collaboration and dialogue with external stakeholders.

• Governance (Section 1)
  • Guidance on capacity and skills needed and training available for development.
  • Emphasises the cross-functional collaboration needed for social performance, including stakeholder engagement. The Social Performance Management Committee (SPMC) is the primary vehicle for encouraging a consistent and co-ordinated approach to affected stakeholders.
• Review and planning (Section 2):
  • The baseline assessments and context review updated as part of sites’ five-year Review and planning provide information to understand stakeholders: who they are (including vulnerable stakeholders), the socio-economic context, how stakeholders might be affected and their interests and concerns.
  • The Social Management Plan (SMP) includes an evaluation of the previous year’s engagement activities, providing information on successes, emerging issues, constraints and gaps. It also summarises plans for the forthcoming year, noting any significant changes or improvements required.
• Engagement and analysis (Section 3)
  • B. Incident and Grievance management - grievance processes should be designed through stakeholder consultation, so they are properly targeted, understood and trusted. Records of incidents and grievances can provide insights into stakeholder concerns that can then be discussed and addressed through the ongoing stakeholder engagement process.
  • C. Social and Human Rights Impact and Risk analysis – engagement is fundamental to understanding potential impacts and risks. The link between stakeholder engagement and social and human rights impact and risk analysis is perhaps the most important in the Social Way.
• Impact and Risks prevention and management (Section 4)
  • Stakeholder engagement is explicitly embedded into each section within Impact and Risk Prevention and Management. Anglo American requires an approach that is compliant with IFC PS 1; i.e. an informed consultation and participation approach involving meaningful engagement on impacts, mitigations and benefits.
  • A. Socio-economic Development - the success of Socio-Economic Development (SED) projects depends on engaging stakeholders so they understand our approach. It means involving them in planning, design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation processes. Through engagement, SED projects are done ‘with’ stakeholders as opposed to done ‘to’ them.
  • I. Indigenous Peoples - outlines the additional requirements and provides guidance for engagement with Indigenous Peoples.