We are invited by one of the orginasers to participate at the forthcoming Australia Mekong NGO Engagement (AMNEP) Platform in Hanoi, Vietnam. This program will be a forum for NGOs and not-for-profit organisation working in Mekong areas to meet and discuss key development issues. The key agenda for this round is ASEAN economic integration and women. This is obviously a great opportunity for our team to present some findings from this project to NGOs and delegates from the Australian Aid.
I have prepared an abstract for our presentation and eager to share them with you here.
Mining & Development in Lao PDR
"The extractives sector,
including international mining companies, drives trade, economic growth and
development in the Greater Mekong Sub-region by creating jobs and boosting
government revenue. Yet investment in the extractives sector in developing countries
comes with many challenges.
There is evidence to show
that it is women in mining communities who can have the greatest positive
influence on the local economy. Empowering rural village women is vital to unlocking
local development.
This study explores how an
international mining company operating in rural Lao PDR engages and influences women,
directly and indirectly, and the consequent social and economic impacts on the
local community.
This Australia Aid funded ADRAS
research addresses important questions about employment participation and
sustainable rural development in Lao PDR. Using a qualitative approach, the
authors conducted personal interviews with 76 women and men, and group interviews
including key community leaders, from seven villages in Vilabouly District, Savannkhet
Province.
The preliminary findings of
this study confirm that the international mining industry, in this context, can
influence women in three major domains. They include (1) relationship with
other members in the community, (2) economic power and social status, and (3)
self-actualization. This study also confirms that key actors associated with a
rural mining community - multinational
corporations and their shareholders, local government and policy makers, and affected
village communities – can potentially work together to promote gender equity
and empower women in a rural area in Lao PDR."
We will keep you updated with the event which is scheduled in late August.
After the fieldwork in Laos, I received a copy of Forbes Magazine (Thailand) where we published a Thai article on corporate social responsibility and multinational corporations (including Mining) in Asia. The article is an analysis from our literature review and we plan to write a final piece to Forbes by the end of this year.
If you are interested to read this article (and can read Thai), this is the link to our article.
http://www.slideshare.net/nattpimpa/forbes-36646572
We finally reach the end of our fieldwork in Laos. Our last day of the interview started with three personal interviews with three women from different villages and used to work in the mining industry. It was very interesting for me to interviewed a woman who just resigned from the company and support her partner to work overseas. The gender impacts are quite prominent from her story, due to issues on gender roles, expectations and equity issues. One interesting point raised by her is the future of her town after the end of mining MNC in Laos. It sounds like a common fear among community members. We heard the same issue from our focus group interview with six people from the village. Apart from generic comments on socio-economic and environmental impacts, the future of this town remains unclear among the members of this community.
Our Conversation on Mining and Gender
One important point that we learn from today's interviews with Laos women in this community is the meaning of mining industry to the community. Apart from economic gains (as publicly known in many cases), mining industry can also promote equity by means of education, training and social status. Most women who work in the industry agreed that they feel comfortable about themselves. They are proud to be able to generate income and being able to associate with mining MNC. When they work in this industry, it also promotes they status in the family and community.
Miners are the key clients of SMEs in Vilabouly
Before we left Vilabouly, our research visited the office of the Vilabouly's Chief to farewell and thank him for his support throughout the time we spent at Vilabouly. We shared with him our reflections from the field and our connections with the community. He also thanked us for our interests in his town and he really hopes that findings from this project will influence actions from stakeholders in international mining industry.
Office of Vilabouly District
We left Vilabouly with a number of different feelings. To me, as a researcher, I have learnt new experiences on community issues and how mega-million international business influence various issues in the community. I also learnt practices and protocal of research in Laos. It truly is one of the most exciting learning experiences for me. I worked and traveled with great team members from the National University of Laos, Nossal Institute for Global Health, Burnet Institute and had a great opportunity to connect with many interesting people from the community.
Vilabouly from the Top
I strongly suggest researchers in my area to think about the impacts of mining industry on development. We have learnt a number of interesting lessons from countries such as South Africa, Australia, Chile, Laos, Vietnam etc. We seem to struggle to find the best ways to promote long-term development for the community in the host countries. We really hope that the next step of this project will also be meaningful for stakeholders, particularly the local community, in this study.
Local Market
Vilabouly Cultural Hall
Research methodology is an important issue for our team.I n the middle of our research fieldwork at Vilabouly, our
team members think very carefully about some methodological issues. We understand that
conducting a research fieldwork on gender and mining can be very sensitive from
both political and industrial sides in Lao PDR.
As a researcher, I certainly have learnt a
great deal of research practices and protocol from the fieldwork and I would
like to share some thoughts with you.
1) Don’t Let Terms such as ‘mining’, ‘gender’ or ‘community’
Mislead You! I learn that sometimes we tend to have pre-judgmental perceptions
when we think of such terms. I had to tell myself to be neutral and try to seek
truths from the participants’ perspectives. Sometimes when I started the
interview with questions on mining and gender, I had to think very carefully
about not to lead the common perceptions of generic mining industry that we
always hear in the media.
2) Be Honest with Everyone in the Entire Research Process!
You will work with people at different roles and responsibilities when you
conduct research. In Laos, we have to deal with a number of government officers
from different levels and agencies, NGOs, communities, villagers, shop owners,
workers, men and women from different ethnic groups etc. They need to know the
ideas of your research. Make sure you can communicate your research with them
very succinctly, clearly in the simple language.
3)
Language, Language, Language! As a Thai speaker
who informally learnt Laos, I expected no major problems in conducting personal
and group interviews. Oh! I was wrong! In these 6-7 villages, diversity is a
key characteristic. You will work with Bru, Phu Thai, Laos Theung speakers.
Vientiane accent will be useful but not entirely helpful! Make sure you have a
translator next to you when you go to the community. I had 2 translators and
that’s been really helpful.
4)
Working the Politics of Research! I learnt from my colleagues from the National
University of Laos that we need extra times to work with several Governmental
agencies, chief of district, heads of different villages. The fact that gender
can be really sensitive, our objectives must be clearly communicated to all
Governmental agencies and the communities. Gender is not a brand new issue in
Laos and most women are aware of this issue. However, when you add the
complication of international mining industry in to this equation, our ideas
(questions, points and issues) must be clearly communicate.
5)
Be
Flexible with the Data Collection! Miners work at different times and hours. Do
not force them to come to you but you need to be flexible with them. In mining
industry, people work at different levels and jobs. Most women in our study
work as cleaners, admin. persons and unexploded ordnance persons. We have to be
flexible with time and ready to adapt our schedule, language and approaches.
There are a lot more points to share. These points strike my
thoughts as potential ideas to develop into a research methodology paper in the
future.
I would like to share the feelings of our team on ‘methodology’ in the
form of ‘photostory’ and we hope that this story will help you to understand
complex issues of doing research on gender and mining.
We returned to Ban Non Somboon to listen to some personal
stories regarding the relationship between the communities and mining
multinational corporations (MNCs). After The interviews with two men (villagers
who also work in mining industry), we can confirm that their concerns regarding
the future of the village and their job security are prominent. Since this
village is not very large, the residents also ponder alternative jobs such as
service work in Savannakhet town. Still, most people may need to stay in the
village and never want to be in another town where they are not familiar with.
Ban Non Som Boon
From this point, our concern is the future of Vilabouly. We
need to know more about the plan of Vilabouly residents and other stakeholders
such as mining MNCs, the Governmental body, women groups and youth groups. One
point that we learn from most interview is an option on agricultural and
farming skills can be one potential solution. To understand this issue, we organize
to visit mae Saipon from Ban Boong Kham and seek to understand her sustainable
model.
Mae and her farm in the mining community
We arrived Ban Boon Kham in the morning and visited her
Hydroponic farm and agricultural business. Mae told us that she was interested
in working in the mining industry but the opportunity was not there for her. Women can only do certain things in mining industry and she had no interests in those jobs. She has always been interested in business. One day, she was part of the tour to Vientiane and had an opportunity to visit
a hydroponic farm there. It was the day she saw potential business with the
mining industry. What next? She
contacted the company and informed them that she needs to set up a modern vegetable
farm and supply her products to the company. It’s not only for her but for the
village. MMG agreed with the idea and employed an agricultural expert to teach
her village on how to run hydroponic farm. Unfortunately, she was the only
person who attended and successfully completed the training.
Hydroponic 'Salad'
The company also suggested her to work with other 14 representatives
from different villages to be the key suppliers for fresh food for the company. In forming this group, she can also buy vegetables and fruit from the community and resale them to the
company. The relationship between her and mining MNCs has been really strong. In her own terms “mining company has endless needs for food.”
Her Pig Farm
Poultry Farm
We
learnt from her that not all villagers are interested in this business for a
number of reasons such as not access to funds, not understanding of the
business model, and lack of connections to the suppliers and understanding of
markets. She has agreed that mining MNCs can co-ordinate their efforts with
someone like her and the leaders of the community to support villagers to live
sustainable life, regardless of income from mining industry.
I left her farm with some feelings when I think about the
future of the industry and the village.
It is Saturday but our team did not plan for a break. We separated
our team into two teams. One team went to Padong and the other went to Non Som
Boun. I went to Padong with Ajarn Noi, Tim and Dr. Soonthon and we planned to
meet with head of village and 4-5 residents of Padong village.
The village is not as large as the previous villages we
visited. The first person I met with was the head of village who, again, was
very warm and was eager to chat with me. He told me about the characteristics
of Padong village, 65 families and have no key vocational skills and
sustainable incomes. Most women from Padong village do not work since their
full-time responsibility is looking after family of the husband and children. Although he praised some good impact of the
mining industry on the village, some drawbacks were mentioned frequently. This
is not the first time I heard of environmental impacts (and I am not surprised
to hear it) but this village seems to focus on this issue. Some other issues that
emerged include lack of land for women to work, employment for men and women,
and food security. Mining industry seems to have deep impacts upon their economic and social status.
Our Research Partner from the Village
These stories were confirmed when I discussed with a few
Padong women. They were eager to share some interesting stories regarding their
work and family relationship and how mining industry impact on those issues.
One women who called herself Mae (mother) voiced her experiences on how her
family struggle with land issues, drinking water and some health concerns. She,
however, reflected that her son who works as a driver in the mining industry is
the breadwinner.
In the evening, we went to Ban Non Som Boun which is still
not very far from where we stay. Interestingly, we conducted five personal
interviews and one focus group interviews with men. I realize how much men in
this village feel for economic impacts of mining industry upon their community.
Most of them agree that work and economic benefits from the industry can be
powerful for women in the community. Lesson learnt for me is the impact of mining industry can be beyond the primary stakeholders. Mining MNCs and local Government should also understand the real needs from secondary stakeholders.
After a big dinner and bonding activity among our
team, we still had an early start at 8pm. We left ‘Boun Home guesthouse’ at
8.30 and returned to Ban Nam Khip for more data collection. Our team decided to conduct a semi-structured
group interview with four women from Ban Nam Khip. Two of them work in the
mining industry and another two do not engage in any employment.
My Bru Interpreters
From the methodological perspectives, the discussions among
these four women can be really interesting since we can expect contrast views
from those who have been in the industry and those who are independent from the
company.
Interestingly, all
four women raised an important concern that women need to work more and
perhaps the company can help women in Ban Nam khip to work . At least, the
company should prepare local women with some skills that can promote them to progress
s in the future. Issues that mining company or industry can promote women
include job security for women, health and well-being, and skills. I feel that
issues on gender roles and expectation are quite prominent among the
participants in this study. Women who work feel that they do not have to rely
on husband and can ‘swap’ roles with the husbands.
Head of the Village
In Laos, diversity is an important social issue. Since the arrival,
I have been working with women and men from Phu Thai, Pa Kok, Bru and
Vietnamese backgrounds. It was fascinating to see how people from different
ethnic groups connect in one place. Language is one the challenges for me since
I need to understand not only the verbal language but also non-verbal context
of the participants. I am very fortunate to have ‘Thai’ as my interpreter from
Bru to Central dialect. Also, ‘Thalalin’ and a few friends such as ‘Udomxai’
and ‘Ajarn Noi’ always helped me with issues of language and translation.
House of the Bru
In the evening, I followed my team to Ban Huay suan, a Bru-speaking
community. We conducted five semi-structured personal interview with men and
women and observed the whole village. Ban Huay Suan is quite an open community
where most people gather around one shop in the centre of the village. I observed
kids and men gather together and enjoy each other’s company. Most women tend to
stay in the house and prepare dinner and clean the house.
The interview with Laos and Bru languages was somewhat
difficult because I need to build trust among all participants in this study.
Fortunately, most people I interviewed seem to understand central Laos accent
well enough. The key issues from this village include job sustainability, women’s
employment, women’s skills and ability to work in the non-mining industry in
the future. After the interview, we collected
different feelings about the village and how they interact with the company. I
still think that we need to re-visit Ban Huay Suan to understand how to prepare
the community for the future.
