The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has promulgated a new regime for social and economic investments in host communities and mandates every settlor to establish a Host Community Development Trust (HCDT) for their communities. SCDP provides critical foundational training and capacity-building modules for officers and personnel of the HCDT. Also, we provide advisory and support services on operational and technical issues associated with the running of HCDTs.

SCDP provides legal advisory services towards the negotiation of community agreements otherwise known as GMOU/CDA some industry proponents in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Private sector social investment commitments within host communities are an important component of modern Industry-community relations. These commitments are usually both financial and non-financial. Identifying the appropriate and context-relevant management systems is essential to outcomes. We provide the necessary advisory service to assist stakeholders to structure, establishing, and/or reviewing systems to ensure conformity with global best practices in the mining sector.

In addition, SCDP provides energy law and policy advisory services, especially in the area of advising State institutions and industry proponents on the key regulatory and compliance issues relating to the Local Content legislation and the host community development agreement and steps to complying with the requirements of the PIA and 2007 Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act and the proposed Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Development Act.

Community engagement is a process for establishing, cultivating, and sustaining relationships between the industry and communities hosting any Energy and Natural Resources operations. Community engagement is a critical foundation for relationship cultivating and conflict management within energy project contexts. For a private sector proponent, it is a useful process for understanding the nature and culture of the people of a particular project environment. This will assist the company to appraise particular project contexts to be able to understand the potential risk factors (if any) that may be associated with a given project. A company may be then designed an engagement process to mitigate and manage identified social risks. At the SCDP, we have the critical skills-set to support settlors and other stakeholders to develop an effective, proactive, and context-specific as well as manage the community engagement process.

Similarly, SCDP can assist proponents and other stakeholders in critically evaluating or auditing their community engagement systems or frameworks for effectiveness.

A benefit system or benefit portfolio audit helps stakeholders review or evaluate their community benefit systems or the scope and nature of benefits offered or provided under a particular project environment based on certain principles.

SCDP can support stakeholders formulate, implement and/or review conflict prevention and management systems.

Spatial planning allows a stakeholder or stakeholders to evaluate opportunities for the integrated social and economic development of a community or a cluster of communities within a geographical unit. Leveraging is taking advantage of or collaborating with different to achieve sustainable and far-reaching development of the area. SCDP provides technical and practical support mechanisms to achieve this objective. We believe that social investment policies must articulate and rigorously implement measures to coordinate and align community projects to deepen and expand the sphere of community benefits. This is a critical element of a sustainable community development process. Thus, it is important that every stakeholder understands and commit to their responsibilities within the framework of the principles of spatial planning and leveraging where the aim is to achieve sustainability in the community development sphere.

We provide context-relevant detailed analysis and guidance on the articulation, planning, and implementation of the sustainability framework prescribed under the 2021 PIA and the 2007 Minerals and Mining Act.

Social-economic impact assessment helps to identify how a given energy sector project may impact host and impacted communities socially and economically. Data collected will then be used to devise appropriate solutions to the different categories of adversely impacted people.

SCDP provides training and capacity enhancement seminars and training for in-house staff and other stakeholders in the mining and oil and gas sectors.