Data Collection in Laos: Ban Nam Khip

From my experiences, data collection can be time consuming and dull in many circumstances. I do not feel that way while I am doing this project. Again, we had an early start at 7am. We planned to separate two teams to collect data. One team, Dr. Kab and Ajarn Ou, would aim for the data collection at Ban Noon Kradaeng. I will follow Dr. Soonton, Tim and  Ajarn Noi to Ban Nam Khip. The plan worked very well.

We arrived at Ban Nam Khip at almost 9 and I helped my team to set up the tables and recording system. I was a little worried about the participants since the rain was quite heavy and I was not sure if it was a ‘difficult’ time for them to meet with us at the community'd Sala. Only 10 minutes, Nai Ban (head of the village) turned up and greeted us with a big warm smile. Dr. Soonthon explained the idea of this project to him and asked for permission to interview the community.

                                                        A House at Nam Khip

                                                    A House at Nam Khip Village

 I met with an interesting woman who does not work but she looks after women community in Ban Nam Khip. While we were talking to each other she addressed a number of interesting points from women perspectives such as the outcry for training and skill development for women, equal opportunity for men and women to work in the mining industry, and opportunity to work in different positions and roles for women. Women seem to have limited roles such as cleaning, cooking or supporting roles in the mining industry and she disagrees with that idea.

                                                      At the Training Centre

 After the interview we visited Huay Kong Training Centre which is a key vocational training centre for weaver, designer and local textile manufacturer. It is very interesting to know the amount of money and efforts that MMG spent for this 5-years ole centre. We observed design class and realize that all participants s are women who finished school recently and need to find some work opportunities in this area.

                                                 Huoy Khong Training Centre

 In the afternoon, I had a great opportunity to re-visit Ban Nam Khip and interview a woman who works in science-based work.  Her story is also very interesting, like other previous informants. She works  to support her education in business and management, her daughter (one of them lives with disabilities).  

Similar to the previous case, this woman feels that mining industry helps support her financial and social status in the community. Without her current job, she may struggle with costs of living, supporting her family and her education. She is currently studying business administration with the hope to pursue some management in mining sector.  Interestingly, she was very open about the drawbacks of mining industry. Some are related to her community (e.g. environmental problem, business commitment issues) and some are related to herself (e.g. her health, future and work). After the end of the interview, she asked me to explain the actions of this project and what should we do to take further actions from this project. Very good points from her!!

                                          Friends from the Government and Village

We ended the night by saying farewell to ‘Nai Ban’ and presented some token of appreciation to him. We hope that we will return to this village to share our information with the community.

Data Collection in Laos: Ban Vang Yang

Our research team started at 8am with a quick research discussion and plan over breakfast.  The plan for today is to meet with Chief of Vilabouly district and introduce our project to him and his community, discuss our data collection plan at Ban Vang Yang and research summary with him. Everyone was ready for the first big day.

It took us only 10 minutes to drive from the guesthouse to the Office of the Governor. It is quite a grand building but it gives you an impression that this is the place where the Governance team operate.  I learnt that the governance power includes different departments such as Youth (Sao Noom) and Women (Mae Ying). To me, this is a good reflection of Laos Governance system.

We met with the Chief of Vilabouly District, Mr. Bouasone Mahavong, who warmly greeted us in his office. Dr, Soonthorn from NUOL shared a short summary of our project to the Governor. The key message is the academic collaboration among Australian and Laos Universities and the strong support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for this project. The Chief of Vilabouly is a charming and very charismatic person. He addressed that Vilabouly needs more developmental studies aiming at sustainable development. He is aware of social and ecological changes in his area and heneeds to see some ideas and suggestions from our project. He is also very keen to receive the final outcomes of the project and will support this project while we are in Vilabouly.

Our morning session was well set up by Thalalin, Christi and Sriampa from Burnet Institute. Thalalin is the key co-ordinator for the fieldwork  who organized five villagers and the deputy head of the village to meet with us. In our team, we share similar interests on gender and equity so we decided to take different roles in the interview process.

Dr. Kab and Ajarn Noi interviewed two female workers from MMG, while Ajarn Ou interviewed a man who is currently working for MMG. Dr. Soonthon, Tim and I had a great opportunity to interview the deputy head of the village who has been living within Ban Vang Yang community for his entire life (40 years!). A number of amazing stories such as the way community struggled with the lack of water, schooling and education in the village, how the villagers have been moved by the mine, and economy around the village. We finished at 11am and returned to the guesthouse to work on data management.

Although it was pouring rain in Vilabouly, I managed to observe the main area of the village. This area is different from the village area. I saw mobile phone shops, a number of restaurants, guesthouses and motorcycle shops. It was clear that the major customers of these business are the mine workers and visitors.

At 5PM, we started our second round of the interview. We had six villagers from Ban Vang Yang to be interviewed. It was very interesting to me to interview a Laos-Pa Gog (an ethnic group) woman who works in the mining company. She is illiterate and does not speak central Laos dialect. This is a challenge for me when it comes to listening and talking to her since my (broken) Laos many not be very clear. I asked her girlfriend to sit next to me and help me with some words. It was very awkward at the beginning since she seemed not to understand me but when we started to discuss her work and issues regarding her routine life, we connected. For ethical reason, I will not reveal her identity but let’s call her ‘Sao’. Sao is the breadwinner of her family since the husband has no proper skills and they have four kids to look after. With her current situation, she felt uncertainty in life and work. She would like to be able to work in different departments and roles. However, she kept saying that she is poor and there is really no choice in her life. I asked her what her ultimate dream is. “To see my kids happy and go to school” she humbly replied.

We ended the interview with meeting with Nai Ban (head of the village) who also joined us and shared his view on various impacts of mining industry on his community. He hopes for better quality of life among the members of Ban Vang Yang.    

Research Field Trip: Day 1 and Day 2 in Lao PDR

We finally arrived in Vientiane for the meeting and data collection. The flight from Bangkok to Vientiane has always been great since my first experience to Laos.  After arrival, we had to be ready for the meeting with our team.

The meeting was full of enjoyment and excitement. Team members from Melbourne consists of Tim Moore from the University of Melbourne and Natt Pimpa from RMIT.  We first met with Sriampa and Christi, our partners from Burnet Institute, at a local coffee shop called Joma café.

The focal points of our discussion include the logistics of data collection and protocol of meeting with key stakeholders in the community. We were confirmed that the key villages in this study will include Vangyang, Namkeep, Nongkadeang, Noonsomboun, Padong, Boungkham and Huaysuan. Our team carefully selected these villages due to their vicinity to the mine and diverse populations (miners and non-miners). We are also aware of significance of Suvanakhet as the largest province in Laos.

From the methodological perspectives, our concern is how to engage with workers, women, men, representatives of women union and the community. With strong plan and support from the National University of Laos, Burnet Institute and MMG in Vientiane.  Our team contacted the community leaders and workers and asked for support in the recruitment process.  Although it took 2-3 months to recruit the participants in this study, we know that all participants are very keen to share their life stories with us.

We had lunch with Dr. Saengdeune, Dr. Soonthone, Dr. Kabmanivanh (aka Kab) and Ajarn Malaipon and Ajarn Outoompon (Ou) from the National University of Laos (NUOL). It was our first time to meet with Dr. Kab and Ajarn Malaipon in Vientiane. Both will play a leading role in the data collection process in Vilabouly. I must admit I am impressed by the quality of work from NUOL team, particular their research in gender, equity and migrant workers in South East Asia. Our lunch ended with ideas to be implemented in the field.     

    

Our second day started at 5am!!!

We met with Dr. Kab and Ajarn Malaipon in front of the University and that’s where our journey began. Traffic in Vientiane was not that bad for Tuesday morning and I expected some long, quiet 12 hours trip..I was wrong! As a competent researcher in sociologist, Dr. Kab broke the ice with an interesting conversation on “Kao Chi Pate” (French Style Sandwich) and its cultural influences in Laos. By 8am, we stopped by a shop and bought 5 Kao Chi Pater and iced coffee…What can I say!! Sab Lai (delicious).

An important part of the research team is getting to know each other. We exchanged our stories from education in Australia, research in Laos, migrant workers an ASEAN Economic Community, Thai politics, gender and ethnicity in Malaysia and even Australian politicians. I realized that this 12 hours trip is truly important for us to understand each other’s work and life backgrounds.  We stopped at Chum Pa Sak for lunch with Dr. Soonthon and Ajarn Malaipon. I was amazed by the number of big trucks loaded with wood, products and people on the road. This area is one of the strategic area for Laos economy and it will become greater when AEC becomes a reality in 2015.

The road to Vilabouly is not that bad. I observed some roadwork and construction along the way and some signs of deforestation and damaged roads. Obviously, this area is where economy and people link and it may require some facelift in the future.  When we were close to the community where we will spend the next 14 days with, we started to see heavy rains and storm. What excite me is the households and community along the road. I observed small communities, plantations and some shops. People who gathered in the shops are mostly men. Women seem to work on the domestic issues such as looking after kids, feeding their poultry, and cleaning the house. The sign of gender role is very clear to me at this point.

We arrived in Vilbouly at 5.30 and checked in the guesthouse (Heun Boun Houm). One of our team members, Thalalin from Burnet Institute, greeted our team and organized rooms and schedule for us. I am excited to know that we are going to work with this fabulous team in the next 2 weeks. And I know it is going to be a very meaningful and interesting research.  

Project Dissemination: The 12th International Conference on Thai Studies, The University of Sydney

On 22-24 April 2014, The University of Sydney hosted the 12th International conference on Thai studies. The conference was well attended by approximately 500 scholars worldwide.  This important  conference  promotes various ideas and research studies regarding contemporary Thailand. The sub-themes of this conference are eclectic. Examples of the themes include archaeology, art and design, rural issues, ASEAN, borders, monarchy, politics, sexuality, environment, music.  This is a great academic event for us and we decided to submit our paper from MIDAS project to share some findings and research points with scholars in Thai studies.

                                                               The University of Sydney

Our paper was accepted under 'environment' theme because the focus of the paper is on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its impacts  upon the community and women in Thailand. Under the peer-review process by the conference committee, we finalized the paper and decided to include it in the conference program (proceedings). 

                                  H.E. Mr. James Wise, the Australian Ambassador to Thailand

Two team members (Dr. Pimpa and Dr. Moore) represented the team to present our paper at this conference. The presentation was scheduled in the afternoon of the 24th April. we were very fortunate to be in the same panel with a number of interesting scholars who work intensively in South East Asia. In the panel, we worked with Danny Marks (Australia National University), Sanita Ganjanapan (Chiang Mai University) and Sasithorn Onlao (Rajabhat Mahasarakham University). 

                                                                   Our Presentation

The session was lively with discussion on CSR policies and practices that affect contemporary environmental conditions in Thailand, the concept of Thai Buddhism and CSR, and arguments on CSR or PR. The critical issue on CSR and culture were raised by Professor Philip Hirsch from the University of Sydney. He questions the roles of cultural factors and how other actors such as MNCs, community and local government can play different parts in the developmental process of CSR programs. 

                                                                Q&A and Discussions 

By the end of the session, we realized that we  have learnt a number of interesting perspectives and constructive criticisms from the audiences. This is one of the very interactive dissemination activities of MIDAS project. If you are interested in reading our paper, please visit this link:http://sydney.edu.au/southeast-asia-centre/thai-studies-2014/conference-papers.shtml

Project Dissemination for Asia @ RMIT

One of the key characteristics of DFAT funded project is capacity building. We believe that our project should be used as a learning mechanism for students, academic staff and practitioners in international mining industry.

On 9th April 2014, Dr. Sheree Gregory and Associate Professor Natt Pimpa presented the findings from this project , focusing on how mining MNCs in Laos impact women in the workplace, to the academic community at RMIT University. The seminar was organised by Asia@RMIT which is an event co-hosted by RMIT's Graduate School of Business ans Law and the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies.

The seminar was attended by 16 academics and PhD. students from different departments and schools at RMIT University. All participants showed interests in mining industry in Laos and Thailand, how women manage to work in the male-dominated industry, socio-economic factors in Laos that promote and impede women, and policies on gender equity.

The seminar was a great success since we developed a CSR and mining network with RMIT scholars and students. This network is important for us since we will collaborate our future research and academic actions with them at various stages of this project.

 

Associate Professor NattavudPimpa and Dr Sheree Gregory (School of Management) 

‘Mining and Women: How Mining Multinational Corporations Promote Gender Equity in Laos’

We examine approaches and strategies to empower women in the mining industry and mining community in Laos. In order to balance some views on developmental actions by Mining Multinational Corporations (MNCs), we also collected primary data from an international governmental organisation (IGO) and secondary data from MNCs, IGOs and international mining reports. The results show that MNCs adopted various approaches to empower women, promote equal opportunity, and celebrate diversity in the industry and the community. Two key concerns were raised: the lack of participation by women in the decision-making of corporate policies and the exclusion of indigenous women in economic and educational activities by MNCs.

Seminar:  http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=ixruhyg08rz3 

Event details

Title:	Asia@RMIT Seminar
Presenters:	Dr Claudia Astarita, Associate Professor Nattavud Pimpa and Dr Sheree Gregory
Date:	09 April, 2014
Time:	12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
Location:	RMIT University, Building 80, Level 5, Room 01 (445 Swanston Street, Melbourne)
Location:	Email aastha.swaroop@rmit.edu.au by Tuesday, 8 April, 12 pm. Light lunch will be provided (places are limited)

How Mining Industry Impact Women

How Mining Industry Impact Women

Equitable Employment for Women in Mining Industry in Laos and Thailand

Over the last six months the Australian-based Equitable Employment for Women in Mining Companies in Laos and Thailand research project led by Associate Professor Natt Pimpa and involving a team of researchers from RMIT’s School of Management and Global Urban Social Studies School, the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Health, National University of Laos, Thammasat University (Thailand) and industry partners from Laos (MMG) and Thailand (Akara Resources), has been undertaking the first stage of fieldwork.

In what ways are mining workplaces providing equitable employment for women? What actions are the mining industry taking to safeguard female stakeholders? What are the social and economic development impacts, particularly in rural areas, of women's engagement in the mining industry? What changes in policy and practice could be taken by the mining industry to support gender equity and safeguard women stakeholders? These are the central research questions of the project.

The first phase of the project reveals that, although mining industry can improve women’s quality of life, international mining companies still need to promote women to play active roles in the mining industry and community.

This research also shows that Australian mining companies have progressively shifted from a focus on eliminating difference between men and women to celebrating gender differences and valuing them equally by raising awareness of how traditionally feminine activities and styles can benefit the organisation.

In the next phase, the project has involved working with partners and multinational corporations in Laos and Thailand to learn more about out how international mining impacts women and the roles they play in communities and industry. The project’s activities have focused around capacity building and preliminary data collection in preparation for intensive fieldwork to deliver outcomes that support and promote gender equity development and minimise disadvantage to women.

The Equitable Employment for Women in Mining Companies in Laos and Thailand research project is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australian Aid) and contributes to RMIT University's focus on critical issues that impact global businesses and communities.

There has been a huge degree of interest in this research project. The project will produce findings from new data and multiple perspectives (voices from management, employees, and community members) on a range of issues impacting women in mining communities and industry. It includes exploration of education, poverty alleviation, labour relations, community life and sustainability.   

The project is over halfway through the first stage and on track to conclude fieldwork in the second half of 2014.

For more information visit the Mining – Development – Asia research project website http://seabiz.asia/ and twitter handle @miningforwomen