Social development programs: the importance of participation and inclusion, what aspects should you take into account? When implementing social development programs, it is essential to question and rethink conventional approaches, including community participation and inclusion in their planning and implementation.
This is for one simple reason: communities know their own needs and priorities.
Participation and Inclusion: Keys to a successful social development program
The consultation and joint planning processes ensure that the solutions built are culturally appropriate, and that they respond to the needs of the communities, with the ultimate purpose and goal of overcoming poverty and helping the most vulnerable to overcome their vulnerability.
A more holistic, inclusive and participatory approach seeks to work with communities, in consultation, to understand their ideas and conceptions of social development; their needs and priorities; and to seek allies to assist in the implementation of actions.
In this sense, community participation and inclusion in the planning of social development programs is important for several reasons:
Implementation of culturally appropriate solutions
Each community has its own customs and traditions. For this reason, it is essential that actions be adapted to these realities in order to be truly effective.
Correct response to the needs of the communities
Communities know their own needs and priorities best. Consequently, social development programs must be based on their requirements for their success.
Sense of trust and legitimacy
When people participate in the planning of these projects, they feel more involved and committed to the results. This generates trust and legitimacy for the programs, which facilitates their implementation and sustainability.
Increased acceptance and social license
Social license is a concept that refers to the degree of acceptance of a company by the society in which it operates.
Social development programs designed by industry for communities tend to be solutions to immediate needs, to ensure quick wins and greater social license, reducing the risk of protests or opposition.
How to overcome the challenges?
When carrying out social development programs, the dialogues face several challenges: cultural clash, differences in meaning and understanding of social development, long-term versus short-term visions, difficulty in prioritizing, and companies' resistance to assume what they consider to be the role of the State.
Hence, the tendency is to prioritize the visions of one of the parties, and to bring direct solutions to the communities, without a consultation process.
However, to overcome the challenges of community participation and inclusion, it is important:
- Establish an open and respectful dialogue. Companies and communities must be willing to listen to each other and learn from their differences.
- Build trust and relationships. It is important to take the time to get to know the communities and build mutual trust.
- Be flexible and adaptable. Companies and communities must be willing to adapt to the changing needs of communities.
- Inclusion of diverse beneficiaries and stakeholders. This implies generating spaces for social development to be broad, inclusive and involve different stakeholder groups (State, local government, academia, other companies, civil society) that join the initiatives to make them more sustainable.
The case of a successful social development program at Anglo American
A successful and innovative initiative for social development is Anglo American's Collaborative Development Platform, implemented in South Africa and Peru, created with the purpose of recognizing the company's leverage capacity to unify the different stakeholders in search of sustainable regional development.
This platform includes communities, local governments, civil society, academia, businesses and international banking, to build and pursue common objectives in the long term, +50 years.
Through this example, we confirm the possibility of carrying out social development programs based on innovation that allows us to see beyond immediate projects, and contribute to sustainable social development over time, and with greater benefits, bringing more options to all citizens.
If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you develop a successful social development program, feel free to contact us!
