Community and company capacity: the challenge of resource-led development in Zambia's 'New Copperbelt'

Relationships between the extractive industries, society and development are often symbolized by unfulfilled expectations and even conflict. The poor, rural, politically marginalized and indigenous communities often face the greatest impacts by the extraction of energy and non-energy minerals. This paper explores the challenge of resource-led development in Zambia’s ‘New Copperbelt’, i.e. the Northwestern Province. It demonstrates how Kansanshi, a mid-tier mining company, has struggled with various community development aspects from resettlement and compensation, hiring and employment, as well as local government interactions, to formulating a coherent corporate social responsibility (CSR) and infrastructure project strategy. Findings suggest that community capacity to hold Kansanshi and local government to account is relatively weak. Recommendations include aligning CSR strategies with district, regional and national development objectives, as well as building linkages between local civil society organizations (CSOs) and national/international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to enable communities around the mine to share experiences, lessons learned, and effective company and local government engagement strategies.