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- 2013
- December
- Managing our social im...
Managing our social impacts
12/11/2013The Social Impact Assessment and Management (SIA) of every project is ACCIONA's way of contributing to the development and well-being of the communities in which it operates. ACCIONA's SIA process demonstrates the Company's plus points compared to its rivals and as a result helps the Company become more competitive.
What effect does the construction of infrastructure, or the installation of a power station or water treatment plant, have on the life of a community? What do local leaders, future employees, associations, and so on, think about such projects? And how can ACCIONA contribute to the development of the places in which it sets up? Social Impact Assessment and Management, SIA for short, respond to these questions and allow an efficient operational plan to be designed.
Little is known about the concept of Social Impact Assessment and Management, although the UN, European Commission and World Bank have already given their backing to this method as a way of bringing about responsible internationalization. ACCIONA, in its Sustainability Master Plan (SMP), is committed to the goal of all its international projects being subject to Social Impact Assessment and Management in 2015. This will make it one of the first Spanish companies to offer such added value to international projects. 
The Company started using the SIA and Management methodology in 2012 on pilot projects in Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica and South Africa. Today, the challenge is to generalize its use to comply with a deadline ACCIONA set itself: that by the end of 2013 half of all the Company's new international Water and Energy projects, and 30% of those concerning Infrastructure, will be subject to SIAs.
ACCIONA starts each SIA and Management by performing a study of the social risks involved. Later, it examines the region, the stakeholders involved and the project itself. Finally, the Company meets up regularly with stakeholders to get to know their opinions, proposals and needs at first hand.
Armed with this information, it designs a plan containing initiatives to improve conditions in the community - minimize eventual disturbances produced by the activity while maximizing its social benefits.
Social Impact Assessment and Management are added value for the Company, its clients and society as a whole
Our first steps in Chiripa and Copiapó
The first pilot projects where ACCIONA put into practice its Social Impact Assessment and Management methodology were the wind farm at Chiripa in Costa Rica and the desalination plant at Copiapó, Chile.
COPIAPÓ
ACCIONA Agua and ACCIONA Infrastructure are carrying out a joint project to construct and operate a desalination plant at Copiapó, in Chile's Atacama desert. This pilot project was the first in which ACCIONA implemented all phases of the Social Impact Assessment and Management. Over 250 telephone and face-to-face interviews were carried out from which conclusions were drawn about the special socioeconomic features where action should be taken. A platform was set up to inform the communities about the project's activities and all this served to develop a series of measures to support education (by distributing new technologies and educational tools in the community), improve leisure facilities, promote the business of handicraft activities, help the emergency services, and so on. The Company also discovered that the collectives most affected by the activities would be fishermen, and shellfish divers and gatherers, since the desalination plant was modifying their traditional lifestyles. Thus, a specific plan was drawn up to help these groups.
Learn more about the Copiapó Desalination Plant (Chile)
CHIRIPA
Meetings were held as part of the Social Impact Assessment and Management process to talk to the local communities most affected by the wind farm, which will have an installed capacity of 50MW. The importance of tackling climate change was also emphasized and comments, complaints, suggestions and questions were heard. Several social priorities were established as a result of this process to improve water supply, local access roads and sports infrastructure, and create jobs. Some of these initiatives have already been carried out, such as the equipping of sports facilities for the Monseñor Morera settlement, an athletics track at Tilarán and the development of a sports area in the Tejona district. Efforts to improve the water supply (including the drilling of a well) are also being made for the Monseñor Morera settlement, where sewers and roads are also being improved, as they are in Quebrada Grande. Meetings with local communities continue to be held during each stage of the construction phase to get to know people's needs and expectations. Indeed, such meetings will be held throughout the 20 years ACCIONA will operate the wind farm.
Learn more about the Chiripa Wind Farm (Costa Rica)
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