Ana Maria Esteves

Social impact assessment: The state of the art

Social impact assessment (SIA) is now conceived as being the process of managing the social issues of development. There is consensus on what ‘good’ SIA practice is – it is participatory; it supports affected peoples, proponents and regulatory agencies; it increases understanding of change and capacities to respond to change; it seeks to avoid and mitigate negative impacts and to enhance positive benefits across the life cycle of developments; and it emphasizes enhancing the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged people. We analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing SIA. We assert that the SIA community needs to revisit core concepts, such as culture, community, power, human rights, gender, justice, place, resilience and sustainable livelihoods. It is incumbent on SIA practitioners to educate proponents, regulators and colleagues about these concepts, and to embed them into practice norms. Stronger engagement with the emerging trends of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC); human rights impact assessment; social performance standards; supply chain management; governance; local content and economic development will improve the relevance and demonstrable value of SIA to all stakeholders.

New Directions in Social Impact Assessment

This important new book outlines current developments in thinking in the field of Social Impact Assessment (SIA). It advances the theory and practice of SIA, and argues that a dramatic shift is required in the way socioeconomic studies and community participation is undertaken. The book emphasizes that, much more than the act of predicting impacts in a regulatory context, SIA needs to be the process of managing the social aspects of development and that there needs to be a holistic and integrated approach to impact assessment. It stresses that greater attention needs to be given to ensuring that the goals of development are attained and enhanced.

Enhancing the benefits of local content: integrating social and economic impact assessment into procurement strategies

One of the most encouraging recent developments in supply chain management has been the concerted effort to incorporate local small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) into the supply chains of multi-national corporations. However, local SME procurement can lead to adverse social impacts. This paper demonstrates how the integration of social and economic impact assessment (SEIA) into sourcing strategy can be an effective tool to enhance the benefits associated with projects to local communities. Drawing on research into the mining, oil and gas sectors, the contribution of this paper is the application of impact assessment methodologies to local procurement. The paper recommends the development of a local procurement strategy and offers a step-by-step process for applying a Local Procurement Social Risks and Opportunities Assessment to local procurement planning.

Five ‘big’ issues for land access, resettlement and livelihood restoration practice: findings of an international symposium

This paper synthesises findings of a recent IAIA Symposium on Resettlement and Livelihoods (South Africa, October 2014). Over 250 practitioners from 42 countries attended, representing governments, private sector, academia, impacted communities, civil society international financial institutions (IFIs) and consultants. Five ‘big’ themes emerged: (1) land access and resettlement practice falls short of community expectations, with negative impacts on livelihoods of displaced people, absence of meaningful involvement by communities in decision-making and inadequate benefits from projects. (2) The best practice standards of IFIs are converging. Countries are also increasingly putting in place legislation, but there remains significant scope to improve legislative frameworks and align them closer with international good practice. (3) Livelihood restoration is not being properly planned or implemented. Finding replacement land is increasingly difficult. Women, youth and the vulnerable need more of a voice and more livelihood support. Livelihood restoration is a long-term process and can be better integrated with broader community development efforts. (4) Projects need to start planning and engagement early and more thoroughly. (5) Resettlement practice is improving but requires more resources.