Book Launch: Getting it Right
The road to hell, it is said, is paved with good intentions. The wisdom of this view is borne out by numerous examples from the extractive industries where despite the efforts of companies to build good relations with local communities, confrontation and conflict have instead ensued.
In their recently published book ‘Getting it Right: Making Corporate-Community Relations Work’, authors Luc Zandvliet and Mary B Anderson analyse a range of examples where this has occurred. The observations in ‘Getting it Right’ are based on collaborative efforts by CDA’s Corporate Engagement Project with over 60 international companies – mostly from the extractive industries, and operating in Africa, Asia, Australia, and North and South America. The research examined the broad spectrum of company activities that affect local communities – from hiring, compensation, and contracting, to community consultation, community projects, and working with NGOs and governments.
The lessons learned and the advice provided are both deeply considered and highly practical. The aim is to help corporate managers get it right with respect to interactions with local communities, so that they can more efficiently and effectively accomplish their production goals and, at the same time, ensure that local communities are better (rather than worse) off as a result of their presence. The book also addresses what has been learned about how companies can interact, appropriately and positively, with national governments and advocacy NGOs in ways that promote, rather than undermine, the welfare of the citizens of the countries where they operate.
The book can be purchased for £22.50 from www.greenleaf-publishing.com . More information on CDA’s Corporate Engagement Project is available in the CDA website: http://www.cdainc.com/cdawww/default.php.
Date Published: October 30, 2009
Source: Engineers Against Poverty