Stakeholder & Community Engagement

Working in developing, post-conflict or other difficult environments presents many challenges including the need to overcome risk and security issues, culture and language differences, weak administration and rule of law, difficult terrain and extremes of weather.

Besides the obvious requirements to operate ethically, legally and fairly there are significant benefits to be gained by implementing effective community and stakeholder engagement programs.

Successful projects engage communities as stakeholders and partners rather than just beneficiaries. This involves empowerment rather than gift giving and handouts. Short term support can be achieved through gift giving but this approach doesn’t build the type of sustainable relationship needed to negotiate if problems develop. Developing an effective engagement program requires cultural agility and a willingness to engage through collaboration and negotiation.

The answers aren’t written in text books and what worked in one community may not work in another even though some of the circumstances will be the same in each location. Community engagement must be an integral part of project and risk planning and not an add-on for compliance reasons or photo opportunities for corporate marketing.

Axinto engages with people to develop enduring, trust-driven relationships so communities become stakeholders and not just beneficiaries of a project. We provide advice, research and strategies which incorporate communities in planning and decision making, training and capacity building of local people leading to employment, negotiation for landholder agreements and local procurement opportunities.

An Issues Motivated Group (IMG) is a collection of activists with a common ideology who highlight their cause and draw media attention through either the conduct of peaceful protest involving placard waving and pamphlet distribution or, alternatively, by engaging in direct action such as trespassing on property, damaging facilities and equipment or blockading or otherwise disrupting mining, agricultural and other business operations.

IMGs traditionally publicise their activities in advance using various communications mediums in order to draw media attention to, and public support for their cause. Activities are usually very well organised and may involve the employment of professional crowd motivators or stirrers to assist in drawing media attention to their cause. Tactics include securing protesters to equipment, blocking the path of operating machinery and disrupting logistics processes.

Axinto provides advice to organisations on how to minimise the potential exposure to IMG activity through the implementation of best practices in respect to stakeholder engagement, employment, human rights and environmental issues.

Beyond this, Axinto provides advice on how to protect people, assets, operations and reputations. We acknowledge that various groups have a right to draw attention to their beliefs and we ensure that any activity is conducted safely for all people involved and with minimum disruption to the business or organisation involved.

Major events can disrupt the unity within a community and create legal and financial problems for property owners and management entities such as bodies corporate, councils and community groups.

For example, each November marks the end of Year 12 for thousands of Australian school leavers and the start of the ‘rite of passage’ event known as Schoolies which is predominantly held on the Gold Coast but also held in other locations in Australia and overseas.

The majority of Schoolies attendees are well behaved but each year a minority behave badly (and dangerously) and through their actions cause damage to property – particularly accommodation, and cause injuries and in the worst cases, death. Significant risk is placed on accommodation property lot owners and bodies corporate who have an obligation to keep their accommodation safe, protect their investments and limit liability in respect to claims for damages, loss of property and personal injury (or worse).

Axinto assesses the risk in accommodation precincts including public and private areas, during major events such as Schoolies and provides advice to individual property lot owners and bodies corporate on how they can manage their risk in respect to protecting people, their assets, the accommodation operations and the reputation of lot owners and bodies corporate.

The outcome of the risk assessment is clear advice designed to assist lot owners in making decisions in respect to letting their property during Schoolies Week and advice to body corporates in respect to policy and process decisions affecting the entire accommodation precinct.