About Us

The Social Practice Forum (the Forum) was established to provide active leadership on social performance. The Forum’s vision is that business, civil society, communities and government can transform natural resource endowments to create enduring, positive social, environmental and economic outcomes. The Forum contributes to this vision by creating a space for members to pool their collective experience, advance ideas and promote progressive practices. The Forum brings together experienced social performance practitioners dedicated to promoting the advancement of social performance in six key areas:
Widening and deepening awareness & understanding of social performance
Promoting an effective role for government, governance & legislation in social performance
Promoting the integration of social performance practice into business objectives and corporate culture
Enabling and empowering stakeholders
Improving the standards for social performance practice
Advancing the professionalisation of social performance practitioners

Our History

Having evolved from a small group of peers who came together to reflect on the state of social performance practice in the field and a concluded that things could be much better, the Social Practice Forum is now a formal organization.

Our Future

Over the next years, the Forum will focus on:

Applying our Strengths: Forming Working Groups to initiate action or positively respond to requests that advance social performance. These may include guidance to policy makers; the provision of expert opinions on social performance related issues; furthering awareness amongst stakeholder groups such as government and the financial industry; and, providing content support to regulatory or legislative initiatives.

Inclusion: Grow global membership in the organization by drawing in social performance practitioners from around the world and across different natural resource and land related businesses. Initially, we will reach out to experienced practitioners willing to be actively engaged in the activities of the Forum, before striving for wider membership.

We act as initiators, catalysts and providers of objective perspectives; we are not an implementing organization or a collective consultancy.

Stewardship

Our governance system consists of a volunteer stewardship group that enables action by the Forum’s membership as a whole. The stewardship group guards the integrity of the Forum’s purpose and facilitates the formation and operation of task-specific working groups. Members can join existing working groups or establish new groups around issues that further the key areas listed above. The members of the Stewardship Group are currently:

Liz Wall (Chair)

Liz has been working in social performance for the past two decades, with a focus on finding ways to deliver poverty reduction through the development of extractive sector resources

Amy Sexton (Co-Chair)

Amy combines a background in environmental engineering and international development, aimed at improving social performance in the natural resources and infrastructure sectors, with a focus on stakeholder engagement and resettlement practices.

IAN THOMSON (SECRETARY)

Ian has more than 30 years’ experience in the resource industries, working for the last 15 to advance their management of socially sustainable development.

PAUL WARNER (TREASURER)

Paul has almost 40 years’ experience in the mining industry and has specialized in community engagement and community development since 1997.

Dana Frye

For over 15 years Dana has supported companies and international organizations on the range of social performance issues. At present, she is working to expand her practical knowledge of how to integrate a gender perspective into social performance.

David Reyes

David combines his background as a tradesman and his training in mediation, law and diplomacy to help companies integrate social considerations with their project designs, engineering and operations.

Mafalda Arias

Mafalda equips organizations and people to interact, communicate and manage across differences. Her innovative training programs help build trust, reduce misunderstandings, leverage differences effectively and introduce the invisible power of culture.

Caitlin Pierce

Caitlin has worked as an advocate, supporting communities in frontier markets to claim their land rights, and has practical experience working inside mining and hydropower companies. She is now focused on helping companies and financial institutions to understand and manage their human rights impacts in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Simon Wake

Simon is an anthropologist who has worked in the extractive industries for 25 years, predominantly as an employee of a major mining company but now as an independent consultant.

What We Do

Our Six Areas of Action

Our vision is that business, civil society, communities and government can collectively transform natural resource endowments to create enduring, positive social and economic outcomes that are satisfactory to all. To achieve this, we will be active in the definition of expectations as practice evolves in response to social pressures and lessons learned, and support implementation through action in six thematic areas set out in the table below. In both defining expectations and supporting implementation, we intend to be proactive and seek long-term, durable outcomes through collaboration with other actors and transparent multi-stakeholder mechanisms.

FAQ

How may i join the forum?

We encourage applications from people around the world, including consultants, corporate specialists and community practitioners. If you have more than eight years practical experience in social performance and want to be an active and committed part of advancing the Forum’s Vision, Mission and Six Areas of Action, this may be the place for you.

We welcome individuals who have significant experience and a willingness to work to improve social practice in six key areas:

  1. Widening and deepening awareness & understanding of social performance
  2. Promoting an effective role for government, governance & legislation in social performance
  3. Promoting the integration of social performance practice into business objectives and corporate culture
  4. Enabling and empowering stakeholders
  5. Improving the standards for social performance practice
  6. Advancing the professionalisation of social performance practitioners

If you are interested in receiving more details about the application for membership, please send us a message through the CONTACT US section below. 

Is the Forum a professional organization?

The Forum is not a certifying body, nor does it accommodate corporate membership. Rather, it is a space for professionals to share their experiences and work together to advance the capabilities of social practitioners, their role in resource development and delivery of the promise of social inclusion and better outcomes for all the actors involved.

Our emphasis is on taking practical steps to achieve these ends through the activities of our working groups and promoting the resulting findings.  The intent is to consolidate ideas and move them into the public sphere with a view to influencing other actors and agendas.  We aim to inspire, provoke and create change.

Does the Forum offer consultancy services?

While many of the Forum’s members are consultants, they offer these services outside the purview of the Forum. In very particular circumstances, the Forum may choose to undertake consultancy work. Should a consulting opportunity arise that would advance the Mission and Vision of the Forum, this will be considered by the Stewardship Group in line with established Forum policy.

Contact Us