Social development and tackling poverty

The low impact of extractive industries on social development is not the result of a lack of investment. Instead, the problem is how mining companies have traditionally invested in development – pouring sums of money into construction projects which are not integrated with wider social change.


Funding a new school or hospital may be indicative of positive intent, but the long-term impact has often been negligible. Due to a lack of integration into wider programmes of education or healthcare, funding is typically not sustained, especially when the mining company departs, while all too often too the skills and infrastructure needed to maintain standards are not available locally.

To achieve more sustainable outcomes which genuinely enhance social development of the local community, the investment needs to be more carefully integrated with broader education reforms or public health initiatives. However, from the donor perspective, this is often a challenging sell: not only will the impact be less tangible than a building bearing the company name, but it will also take much longer for results to become apparent.

OPM’s experience analysing, designing and supporting the implementation of social development programmes around the world enables us to help define more effective CSR interventions, that better address the needs of the local community. We apply cost benefit analysis, manage stakeholder consultations and design and conduct effective local surveys to identify the interventions that can have an impact.

Crucially, our commitment to monitoring and evaluation ensures that there is a strong focus on outcomes that are measurable for the investor.

Tackling poverty

Many major providers of official development assistance (ODA) have, over recent years, prioritised work to tackle poverty. Historically, mining has rarely been seen as contributing to this goal. The challenge therefore is to understand how it can – particularly where ODA is contingent on measurable steps to reduce poverty in the area. Establishing development partnerships, that bring together corporate, donors and NGOs, is one potential solution, as it means efforts towards development and tackling poverty are more integrated.