Optimising local recruitment in Madagascar
In August 2005, Rio Tinto approved the investment in a new ilmenite mine in south east Madagascar.
Since then, as well as developing the mine and associated infrastructure, Rio Tinto has been working closely with local and international stakeholders on the environmental and social aspects of the project's development.
Job creation
QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) is an 80 per cent owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto. The remaining 20 per cent is held by the government of Madagascar. QMM began producing ilmenite from the mine in the Fort Dauphin region at the end of 2008. Ilmenite is a titanium dioxide bearing mineral that is used in the production of white pigment for products such as paint, plastics and paper.
QMM has been present in Fort Dauphin since 1986. The region is extremely isolated and poor, with very few job opportunities and with degraded social, physical and administrative infrastructure. QMM's investment in the mine and port is the first investment in the region since the colonial days, and the largest investment in Madagascar in more than 30 years. Expectations are enormous at both national and regional levels, with job creation seen as the most immediate benefit of the investment.
The construction period represents the most labour intensive phase of the investment. QMM's Community Relations department, in partnership with the project's Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) provider, developed a strategy that would maximise local recruitment during construction without compromising contractor's schedules. The goal was to ensure all unqualified labour on the project's construction would be recruited in a socially acceptable way.
Building a database
QMM decided to build a database of local candidates, from which the contractor could source its labour. Poverty and unemployment in the region meant that there was high demand from people wishing to be included in the database. But with a limited number of jobs available, it was essential that QMM manage people's expectations and also manage the databases and the recruitment process in a way acceptable to the local communities.
So QMM's Community Relations department engaged with representatives from the villages - including traditional and formal leaders, and general assemblies - to develop lists of candidates that the community were prepared to see hired by the project. The QMM team verified the candidates, then the EPCM provider screened the individuals on the list. Candidates were assessed for their base skills and trainability and their health and fitness for work.
The EPCM provider then organised a two day induction and safety training programme for everyone retained in the database. Project contractors were required to submit their requirements for labour, and pre-qualified candidates from the database were sent through for the contractor's selection and hiring.
The local labour office also accompanied the process from start to finish, helping to develop the lists, encouraging villagers to subscribe to the strategy, and brokering the contact between the candidates and contractors.
A transparent strategy
By the third and final year of the construction phase, over 2,500 villagers had been hired from the database by contractors. QMM's structured approach and its management of villagers' expectations helped achieve many of its own and the communities' goals.
The transparent recruitment strategy has helped minimise speculative migration of people coming to the region looking for work, which would potentially have negative implications for the local population. There were no labour disputes, no demonstrations by non recruited villagers, and no job seekers congregating at the project sites in the hope of being hired, since no one had been successfully hired in that way.
Maintaining constant, open lines of communication with the community and other stakeholders has been essential in the success of this local recruitment initiative at QMM.
