Building social license to operate through community engagement: the WUSC-Rio Tinto Alcan partnership in Ghana

Abstract

Presenting the case study of the WUSC-Rio Tinto Alcan partnership in Ghana, this article focuses on the benefits and challenges of a multi-stakeholder partnership between an NGO, a mining company, governments and local communities. Strong community empowerment, alignment of multiple stakeholders’ interests, and the contribution of an expert development NGO definitely contributed to the success of the project, while also strengthening Rio Tinto’s social license to operate.

Keywords

• Community engagement
• Mining sector
• Multi-stakeholder partnership
• NGO
• Social license to operate