Speaking Topic:
The Impact of Mine Closure on Women and Girls – Applying a Social Value Approach
Achieving Equitable Outcomes for Women and Girls Throughout the Mine Life Cycle
First delivered to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Group of Experts on Coal Mine Methane in 2019, Bobbie Foot’s presentation outlined the need to implement strategies that include diverse perspectives in the end-to-end planning and co-design process that achieve equitable outcomes for women and girls throughout the mine life cycle.
There are significant impacts of mine closures, specifically on women and young girls, that are widely overlooked. Disadvantaged groups within communities or workforces can be further affected if careful consideration isn’t provided as part of the closure planning process. When mines close there are two key groups that are impacted – the communities and the workforce – and these are usually highly interconnected and overlapping.
When organisations don’t have the appropriate plans in place, women and young girls can often experience higher levels of social or personal safety issues as well as education and health disadvantages.
Using a Social Value approach to mine closure planning can help prevent many of these impacts, highlighting the importance of having stakeholders involved in the planning process to ensure all risks and opportunities are identified.
Applying Social Value to the closure of mines and other workforce transitions is complex due to the intersection of so many different factors, so it requires a high degree of collaboration between industry, government and the community.
What are the best practices in applying innovative thinking to build social value into the future as we plan for mine closure and transitions, in a way that empowers and benefits everyone in the community, including women and girls?
This talk was presented at the United Nations on 8 November 2019, in Geneva.
More Speaking Topics
The mining sector is undergoing rapid transition in response to climate change and other challenges. Regions and mine sites around the world are facing, preparing for, or going through transitions. Some regions and sites have already done this and it’s key to understand the lessons that have been learned from Just Transitions, especially to ascertain the gaps in knowledge. What are the guidelines to establishing new best practices? Whose voices do we need to include to help shape these guidelines?
Workplace teams with high levels of psychological safety create a space where all individuals can feel safe to speak up, give feedback and report without fear of reprisal. Workplaces that have low levels of psychological safety create cultures of silence, in which speaking up is belittled and warnings are ignored. How then do enterprises and their leaders create increased speak-up environments – to ensure safety and foster growth and innovation?
At the forefront of leadership development, Bobbie Foot’s senior leadership experience is informed by her direct allied health background, on-ground mine-site experience and the creation and implementation of award-winning, innovative HSE programs. She is a compelling speaker.