Sasol announced on Friday it has concluded two Local Development Agreements (LDAs) with the communities in Mozambique.
The LDAs was signed with the communities of Inhassoro and Govuro districts in Inhambane Province, where Sasol’s Exploration and Production International Pande/Temane Gas fields and Central Processing Facility (CPF) are located.
The LDAs represent a tripartite agreement between Sasol, local communities and district governments and are aimed at aligning the priorities of all three parties.
From Sasol’s perspective, the LDAs are an opportunity to build on and leverage the Social Investment platform – totalling approximately $40 million between 2004 and 2018 – already established by Sasol and its partners.
LDAs also facilitate the implementation of Sasol’s ‘Shared Value’ strategy in a structured manner that aligns with the community and local government expectations, as well as with the Government of Mozambique’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy for the Extractive Sector.
“We are proud to be the first company in Mozambique to implement LDAs which are aligned with CSR Policy and Implementation Guidelines approved by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in January 2017,” Sasol E&PI, Ovidio Rodolfo, Country Manager for Sasol Mozambique said.
“We believe the LDAs will establish the foundation Sasol to build strong relations with stakeholders by working together under the principles of shared ownership, mutual responsibility and long-term commitment. They will also help to drive socio-economic development in the targeted geographies which in term will promote greater Shared Value in line with our Mozambican strategy.”
The identified priority projects will be implemented with the help of partners such as the German development agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), which have expertise in agriculture, energy and water, as well as sanitation and hygiene.
The priority projects are essentially large multi-year high impact programmes, with the potential to extend coverage beyond primary to secondary beneficiaries.
