Community relations planning

Our work with companies in the extractive, energy and manufacturing industries underlines the value of developing tailored community relations strategies – and ensuring that community relations processes, staff and technologies are streamlined and focused.

EEM’s complementary experience with communities and indigenous peoples affected by development helps us ensure that your interactions with stakeholders – including community engagement, social investment, land access and resettlement – serve to secure your social privilege to operate over the long term.

Our offer

EEM’s offers the following services in community relations planning:

• Context assessment, where we use the following as required: Stakeholder and issues mapping, engagement with key stakeholders (internal and external), social baseline assessments, community surveys and social media analysis.
• Priorities identification: Identifying key stakeholders, issues and social risks.
• Performance evaluation: Conducting gap assessments of existing community relations processes, tools and outcomes with corporate and industry standards, regulations, best practices and stakeholder expectations.
• Action planning: Developing a community relations action plan for your organization or operation covering processes, tools (including information technologies such as stakeholder management systems), human resources, budgets and timelines.
• Process improvement: Supporting community initiatives including community engagement, communications, documentation, community investment and development, land management and resettlement programs, as well as internal and external performance reporting.

Our approach

EEM’s approach to community relations planning:

• Is based on industry best practices such as the IFC performance standards, the London Benchmarking Group and relevant industry standards.
• Solicits multiple perspectives within your organization or operation and among your key stakeholders to ensure fit for purpose.
• Uses leading edge tools including stakeholder mapping, social risks assessment, community relations documentation, analysis and performance dashboarding.
• Ensures long-term compliance with regulations, best practices and investor requirements.
• Safeguards your social privilege to operate by implementing effective approaches to meeting the needs of key stakeholders over the long term.