The seven key steps of SEAT are:
- Profiling our own operations and our host community.
- Identifying and engaging with key stakeholders.
- Assessing the impacts of our operations - both positive and negative - and the community's key socio-economic development needs.
- Improving the management of socio-economic impact and issues during operation and closure.
- Working with stakeholders and communities to help address some of their broader development challenges they would face even without our presence.
- Developing a management and monitoring plan to mitigate any negative aspects of our presence and to make the most of the benefits our operations bring.
- Producing a report with stakeholders to form the basis for ongoing engagement with and support for the community.
In line with SEAT best practice, each of our significant operations now runs a new assessment every three years.
SEAT plays a central role in our programmes to meet the requirements of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) sustainability principle 9 (i.e. to contribute to the social, economic and institutional development of the communities in which the Company operates).
All senior and site-based personnel who are responsible for community relations are trained in the use of the SEAT process, which includes a human rights screening exercise. For country-entry, mergers and acquisitions activity and for new projects, human rights impact assessments or due diligence are undertaken. A human rights scoping is undertaken in every case, with further investigation as required.
A history of success
In eight years, the use of SEAT has resulted in the launch of a wide range of community initiatives in education, training and local enterprise development. It has also had a positive impact on handling issues such as housing, transport, recruitment and HIV/AIDS.
Third party plaudits
A number of external organisations have provided positive feedback on SEAT:
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)
Leading American NGO Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) found SEAT to be "an international best practice". BSR chief executive Aron Cramer noted: "SEAT helps Anglo American's operations to achieve their social licence to operate consistent with the expectations of stakeholders and broader society. It is underpinned by Anglo American's decades of experience operating in and contributing to emerging economies throughout Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin and South America.
"The toolkit represents one of the most significant corporate investments we know of to equip personnel to better understand, plan, implement and account for the social and economic performance at the local operations level."
Cambridge University's Judge Business School
Academics at Cambridge University's Judge Business School noted that SEAT "is revolutionising Anglo American's relationship with its operations' neighbouring communities..."
UK Charity Aid Foundation
The UK Charity Aid Foundation described SEAT as "both innovative, positioning stakeholder engagement at its central core, and replicable".