2
1 Introduction
isolated from city centres. These communities had no access to basic services such
as health care. At the beginning of my work, I believed the company should ‘help’
these communities by, for example, providing them with weekly doctor visits and
free medicine. Little did I know that by taking the role of a health care provider,
the company was fulfilling a role that is usually taken by the government. When the
company’s operation ceased, I faced an ethical dilemma. When we withdrew, health
care would leave with us. Was it right to take away from the community the basic
medical assistance they had so long aspired for? I recorded such events in my field
notes since they struck me as important. A desire to understand these challenges and
find possible solutions led me to pursue this research.
As a social investment expert, I was involved in annual reporting, risk mitigation actions, resettlement and impact compensation, and the development of social
programmes. I spent much of my time in the company designing and implementing
social investment programmes in/for communities located within a 15-kilometre
radius of the prospection field (distance determined by the State and local regulation
at the time). Social investment programmes were also developed in centres of the
main municipalities.
Before the company arrived at the operational sites, other O&G firms had previously prospected the areas. These firms had impacted the local communities with
their operational activities (for examples of the social impacts generated by O&G
companies in the Brazilian Amazon see Pereira [2014]). When I first arrived at the
host villages, several community members regularly protested against the impacts of
previous companies. They enquired about the precautions ‘my’ company was taking
to avoid such impacts. The community members complained about the increase of
local inflation due to the increase in money supply; and the increased cases of prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies generated after
previous companies explored the area.
In an effort not to promote the same impacts, I, along with the social investment team, planned and implemented a series of mitigation actions and additional social programmes, such as environmental protection projects and women’s
sewing initiatives. Despite my best intentions when designing the programmes, a
large number failed to achieve their intended outcomes. For instance, several social
investment programmes promoted growing community dependency upon foreign
assistance, unrealistic expectations regarding O&G social investment, and increased
dissatisfaction among the recipients when the programme or operation ceased.
I occasionally felt that my interests in helping the communities did not always
coincide with the company’s or the government’s social investment expectations and
priorities. Therefore, I sometimes felt caught in a crossfire, for as a social investment
expert I did not know whether I should represent my social investment ideals, or the
interests of the firm, community, or government.
Before beginning this research, I believed that O&G companies could play a big
role in alleviating poverty in host communities. I just did not know which would
be the best way for this to be achieved. I believed that the key element to social
investment success rested on the experts’ ability to negotiate their personal ideals
alongside the expectations of the communities, government and company. This is
1 Introduction
isolated from city centres. These communities had no access to basic services such
as health care. At the beginning of my work, I believed the company should ‘help’
these communities by, for example, providing them with weekly doctor visits and
free medicine. Little did I know that by taking the role of a health care provider,
the company was fulfilling a role that is usually taken by the government. When the
company’s operation ceased, I faced an ethical dilemma. When we withdrew, health
care would leave with us. Was it right to take away from the community the basic
medical assistance they had so long aspired for? I recorded such events in my field
notes since they struck me as important. A desire to understand these challenges and
find possible solutions led me to pursue this research.
As a social investment expert, I was involved in annual reporting, risk mitigation actions, resettlement and impact compensation, and the development of social
programmes. I spent much of my time in the company designing and implementing
social investment programmes in/for communities located within a 15-kilometre
radius of the prospection field (distance determined by the State and local regulation
at the time). Social investment programmes were also developed in centres of the
main municipalities.
Before the company arrived at the operational sites, other O&G firms had previously prospected the areas. These firms had impacted the local communities with
their operational activities (for examples of the social impacts generated by O&G
companies in the Brazilian Amazon see Pereira [2014]). When I first arrived at the
host villages, several community members regularly protested against the impacts of
previous companies. They enquired about the precautions ‘my’ company was taking
to avoid such impacts. The community members complained about the increase of
local inflation due to the increase in money supply; and the increased cases of prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies generated after
previous companies explored the area.
In an effort not to promote the same impacts, I, along with the social investment team, planned and implemented a series of mitigation actions and additional social programmes, such as environmental protection projects and women’s
sewing initiatives. Despite my best intentions when designing the programmes, a
large number failed to achieve their intended outcomes. For instance, several social
investment programmes promoted growing community dependency upon foreign
assistance, unrealistic expectations regarding O&G social investment, and increased
dissatisfaction among the recipients when the programme or operation ceased.
I occasionally felt that my interests in helping the communities did not always
coincide with the company’s or the government’s social investment expectations and
priorities. Therefore, I sometimes felt caught in a crossfire, for as a social investment
expert I did not know whether I should represent my social investment ideals, or the
interests of the firm, community, or government.
Before beginning this research, I believed that O&G companies could play a big
role in alleviating poverty in host communities. I just did not know which would
be the best way for this to be achieved. I believed that the key element to social
investment success rested on the experts’ ability to negotiate their personal ideals
alongside the expectations of the communities, government and company. This is