Community engagement—a critical component of risk management and project viability

Abstract

The paper will explore these issues and the underpinnings of success and failure in identifying and managing risks to project viability, drawing on numerous examples from a variety of industry sectors throughout. It will explore implications for companies of the growing assertion of community rights and entitlements, how this is increasingly playing into current political and regulatory processes, and its relevance to new project development and on-going community ‘licence to operate’. Changes in the dynamics of project-community relations over time are explored in the context of changing approaches to business-case driven corporate community investment, modes of dialogue and other forms of engagement. Specific issues to be addressed include: determining the appropriate circumstances for various levels of participation in the continuum from information to consultation, co-determination and delegation; finding solutions and optimising agreements; community engagement as a competitive tool, as well as a pre-competitive industry strategy; interaction with corporate incentive systems; and approaches to both corporate and community capacity building for effective outcomes. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the integration of socio-political and regulatory risk analysis, and mitigation into traditional enterprise risk management and performance systems.