Proceedings of The International Social Sciences Conference
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Mining and Sustainable Employment in the Host Communities in Mozambique
De Oliveira Catia Antonio Victor Joaquim
ABSTRACT:
Over the last decades, Mozambique has been the destiny of many foreign direct investments, especially in the mining industry. These investments raised the host communities’ expectations to benefit from employment opportunities. However, the rural communities in Mozambique have predominantly low formal education and lack professional skills. This study aims to analyze how mining companies deal with the need to employ local communities in Mozambique and to identify the measures to improve community development practices based on a community perspective. While many studies discuss sustainable employment in the mining industry context, and some address sustainable employment in Mozambique, this research provides an empirical analysis that examines the mining companies’ policies and procedures to create sustainable employment for the host communities. In addition, based on the belief that only decent and secure employment can lead to sustainable development, the research sheds light on the issue of a lack of professional skills and high illiteracy in affected communities. The research used inductive thematic analysis to examine how Kenmare Resources Public Limited in the Moma community contributes to the community’s sustainable employment. The study also identifies Kenmare policies for local employment and their effectiveness toward sustainable employment in the community and points out measures to improve community development practices based on the Moma community perspective. The main findings demonstrate the need for mining projects to consider the qualitative elements of the jobs created for community members and adopt mechanisms for generating sustainable employment.
keywords: employment, Kenmare, mining, Moma, Mozambique