Vietnam gets first international social performance firm
MFC opens new consulting company in Vietnam. “Up until now if a organization wanted to get funding from an international financial institution it could only work with an international consulting company. MFC-VN changes all that,” said Timothy McLaughlin, the company’s director.
Stand up, speak out and get clear
New social performance management website engages practitioners in dialogue about what they do “If you’re doing this work without an ethical base you’re just co-opting people.” That’s what Wesley Cragg said recently at a session on social performance management in...
Here’s why environmental and social impact assessments must be guided by health considerations
By Janis Shandro If we’re not doing impact assessments to protect human health and well-being for current and future generations, why are we doing them at all? Really. If impact assessments are of any use, don’t they have to give us tools primarily to predict and...
The nine things you need to do to manage a social crisis
By Gary MacDonald You probably already know how it starts. You’re sitting at your desk when the reception or front gate calls to say that the road is blocked by a group of angry people. You may not have known that it was coming – that’s a separate problem for a later...
Creating enterprise takes a first-person narrative, not a data miner
By Rebecca Reiber When it comes to enterprise development, I wouldn’t recommend basing credit decisions on indoor toilets or gifts from relatives living abroad. That’s why a recent article on creditworthiness indicators and how lenders use data from informal channels...
Cracking the vault
Financial advisors count social performance By Carol Odell and Zoe Mullard You already know the markets have cooled off for most natural resource organizations and that means it is getting harder to find funding – but do you know what you can do about it? Improving an...
The 7 criteria you can use to find a credible performance standard
A GEMM of an idea grounds performance By Zoe Mullard and Janis Shandro There is no shortage of reporting frameworks you can use to demonstrate social and environmental performance. But how do you know which ones are credible? That was one of the key questions debated...
New Executive Training Session: Health, Safety and Security and the Extractives Industry
Health and safety impacts of conflict, violence and human-rights abuse linked to security operations These are some of the most severe outcomes that extractive industries face in international communities. In addition to their human toll, they can cause significant...
Traditional tribal culture clashes with democratic initiatives
By Sylvie Charland Best practices in managing natural resources show that when community members are not only informed of the decisions affecting them, but also participate in the decision-making process, results are optimized. So what do you do when this concept of...
Lever social acceptance through your operational needs
A huge opportunity many companies miss By Trevor Kalinowsky If trade press and conference promoters are anything to go by, local content is the latest trend to hit the social performance landscape. Apparently if your project or company doesn’t have a ‘framework...
New Directions
By Gary MacDonald CSR is dead to us. Now, I know you may be wondering if that means we are heading in a new direction. Not at all. We just don’t do CSR. Okay, some people would characterize what we do as working on issues related to corporate social...
Monkey Forest Presents at the 2012 Asian Mining Indaba
Tim McLaughlin presented at the Asian Mining Indaba conference that took place on October 28-31, 2012 in Singapore. The presentation highlights the importance of conducting regular social due diligence reviews. Tim McLaughlin presented at the Asian Mining Indaba...
Canadian Anti-Mining Day Tests Power of Social Media
Social media tools have been touted as being just for the young and frivolous. But multi-country events such as the Continental Day of Action Against Canadian Mega Resource Extraction suggest it is time for extractive industry thought leaders to join the conversation...
Extracting the Risk from Mining: Vancouver Sun Opinion Piece
On Friday April 27, the Vancouver Sun published an opinion piece written by Monkey Forest principal Gary MacDonald and Marketa Evans, the Government of Canada's Extractive Sector CSR counsellor, entitled: "Extracting the risk from mining - Current market gives...
Updated IFC Performance Standards – Summary and Analysis of Social Components
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has released its updated Sustainability Framework that will come into effect January 1, 2012, for projects and companies that have embraced the IFC’s environmental and social performance standards. Chief among the changes to...
Raising the Standard – IFC Sustainability Framework Update
In the latest issue of Mining, People and the Environment, Monkey Forest's contributor Angus Wong writes about the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Sustainability Framework update. The Framework came into effect on January 1st, 2012. Read the MPE Update to IFC...
Canada’s CSR Counsellor Releases First Report After Company Withdraws
How extractive companies handle stakeholder grievances about their overseas behavior is increasingly influencing global public perception about them. The recent release of the first report from Canada's "voluntary" process underlines this point. In the following...
The Growing Focus on the Rights of Indigenous People
It is increasingly clear that for companies, “getting it right” includes managing and mitigating impacts on indigenous or vulnerable people. And they’re not the only ones looking at such impacts. Last month, the UN body responsible for protecting the rights of...
Free, Prior and Informed Consent: A Monkey Forest Update
In the July 2011 issue of Mining, People and the Environment, a quarterly supplement to The Mining Journal, Maurice Bridge and Angus Wong of Monkey Forest Consulting examine the growing requirements for FPIC and the way they are changing mining practices the world...
Comment on Phase III of IFC Sustainability Framework Review and Update
The International Finance Corporation Policy and Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability has been at the core of services Monkey Forest Consulting Ltd. has provided to the extractive industry worldwide. Consequently, we have been following...
FPIC: Interpretations and Implications for Stakeholders
The recent endorsement by the government of Canada of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) has given rise to questions about how it will impact resource projects and indigenous groups. Canada's statement of support represents a...
PDAC Presentation “Building community relations and community development strategies”
Craig Ford, the Vice President of People and Environment of Inmet Mining, and Gary MacDonald, and Carolina Silva of Monkey Forest Consulting will talk about "Building community relations and community development strategies from day one: A Case study of Inmet Mining /...