3. WORK OUT YOUR VISION AND BE REALISTIC IN YOUR EXPECTATIONS

When a mine comes to an area, some community members may believe that it will automatically create jobs, contracts, and money. Others may see only the problems the mine will create. In reality, the mine will likely create both. To gain more of the possible benefits and reduce the possible problems, community capacity is key.

“Capacity” refers to the people, skills, organization, and systems that enable the community to set targets, marshal adequate resources, and carry out decisions quickly and efficiently. Capacity is generally built up over time by reinvesting the experience, skills, and profits gained from one business or project in other ones.

To build the capacity to deal with mining, however, a community starts with policy decisions on four “strategic issues.” They express

1. its vision of its future quality of life, and what role – if any – mining might play in that.
2. its determination to realize from mining a full range of benefits, long-term as well as short-term.
3. its intention to apply profits to the community’s long-term needs as well as its immediate needs.
4. its readiness to collaborate with outsiders when necessary in order to get additional capacity.

By looking first at this vision, and the values and priorities on which it is based, communities can judge how much mining can actually contribute to their future. If mining does have something substantial to offer, then attention must be paid to acquiring benefits that advance the community’s long-term interests as well as it short-term ones. The acquisition and reinvestment of profit by and for the community is crucial to those long-term interests. So too is the will to work in partnership with outsiders. No community can “do it all.” By closing gaps in the community’s capacity, outsiders can put within reach a much wider range of opportunities to capture benefits.

Once these four policy decisions are made, you will have a better understanding of how mining can contribute to – but not guarantee – your community’s self-relianceSelf-Reliance: the capacity of a community to plan and build an economic future that suits the values, priorities, and needs of its members.. You will be better able to target the benefits you want, to sell the benefits you have, and to protect what your community values. In short, you will be better prepared to achieve agreements that bring the most benefits possible with the least risk.