Communities

With the experience of operating in different parts of the Americas, the Group has adopted a culture of collaborating with the local communities surrounding our projects and operations. This desire to promote the development of the communities, respect for their human rights and their environment form the core of our corporate strategy that we describe as “Operating Responsibly”.

 

 

 

 

 

To do this, our primary objective is to maintain a constructive relationship with communities and promote development, guided by the following principles:

1. Foster mutual respect and co-existence with local communities
2. Achieve mutually beneficial agreements
3. Improve the quality of life of community residents
4. Improve the health, nutrition and education of local community members 
5. Encourage good relationships and co-ordination with stakeholders to promote sustainable development.
    

Recent Developments

During 2016 we focused on a number of high impact initiatives further details of which are provided below.

Education

Elementary Education
Support programmes have been implemented across various locations close to our Peruvian and Argentinian operations  ranging from the provision of school meals to employment of qualified teaching staff.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Company has supported approximately 340 students in 11 schools close to the new Inmaculada mine with the Maestro Lider initiative which seeks to enhance elementary literacy and numeracy.

Secondary Education
The fourth year of the Secondary Programme of Maestro Lider has also been successful, with the launch of the pre-University Academy and avocational orientation fair. In total, around 500 students and almost 100 teachers participated.

Scholarships
Through the Group’s Argentinian and Peruvian operations, Hochschild has provided scholarships so that students can benefit from further technical studies or college. In 2016, over 80 scholarships were granted.

Training for Work
From the Group’s Argentinian operations, almost 40 students were sponsored on an Introduction to Mining course and almost 30 students embarked on vocational courses in mining/drilling. All students were from the local town of Perito Moreno and were subsequently employed by the Group.

Donation to UTEC
The Group facilitated a donation of US$1m to UTEC, a newuniversity established in Lima offering a wide range of vocational
training programmes.

Health

Medico de Cabecera (the Travelling Doctor programme)
This hugely successful programme, which aims to provide free access to medical care, workshops for health prevention and health education for local communities, continues to receive high levels of demand from all of our operations. In 2016, over 11,000 medical consultations were carried out and over 200 preventative campaigns run.

Socio-economic develpment

Digital Chalhuanca 
This flagship project which, in addition to bringing wi-fi access to the community of Chalhuanca, also sought to encourage digital inclusion. In its fifth year of implementation, the Group oversaw the planned transfer of the facility to the Regional and Municipal authorities who will now look to ensure that the project continues to provide invaluable benefits to the local community while also looking to extend its reach.

Business Networks
Close to the Inmaculada mine, the Group has supported families with their agricultural and artisanal enterprises to promote financial independence and to improve nutrition.