Mine-community dialogue: Stakeholder negotiations beyond roundtable meetings in Geita, Tanzania

Abstract

Geita Gold Mine (GGM) has for over a decade now been dialoguing with its neighbouring communities. Although the company's annual reports, press releases and other forms of publicity demonstrate a positive outcome of the ongoing dialogue, little has been studied on what constitutes dialogue from the local communities' perspective. This study examines the local communities' understanding of, and involvement in the dialogue with GGM, to offer a deeper understanding of Stakeholder Dialogue (SD) practices. Various Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) studies purport SD as a suitable platform for settling differences and increasing cooperation among the differing groups. As a result, many multinational mining companies (MMCs) are currently recognizing local communities as their stakeholders and are inviting them for dialogue as a means to improve CSR practices. From semi structured interviews and discourse analysis, this study uses the narrated life and livelihood experiences of the locals in Geita, to illustrate how dialogue processes in the area go beyond roundtable meetings. This is particularly true given the locals' perceptions that the pronounced roundtable meetings with GGM are not genuinely pursued.
Keywords: CSR, Stakeholder Dialogue (ST), local communities, mining, Tanzania