Social Impact

Land acquisition and resettlement can have significant and lasting impacts on communities, livelihoods, cultural identity, and wellbeing. SLR helps clients navigate the complex social, cultural, economic, and governance considerations involved in the process, enabling them to manage social risks, maintain their social licence to operate, and deliver sustainable project outcomes.

Success depends on understanding the beliefs, values, governance structures, land tenure systems, and stakeholder dynamics that influence how people experience change. Drawing on experience across diverse geographies and project contexts, we develop practical, locally informed approaches that address social challenges, support meaningful engagement, and balance project objectives with community needs.

Our Services

• Land acquisition risk assessment and due diligence
• Resettlement policy frameworks and action plans
• Resettlement implementation support
• Livelihood restoration planning and implementation support
• Audit and monitoring

SLR is a trusted partner in advancing gender equality and inclusion across our clients' projects, operations, and investments. We help clients understand and address the barriers, risks, and opportunities that shape who participates in and benefits from this work, and embed inclusive practices throughout decision-making, workplaces, and supply chains. This creates opportunities for women and underrepresented groups while strengthening social performance and business resilience.

Our Services

• Gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) assessments and diagnostics
• Gender and inclusion due diligence and risk assessments
• Gender-focused impact assessments and baseline studies
• Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) and sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) risk assessments and mitigation measures
• Gender action plans
• Gender-responsive stakeholder engagement and community consultation
• Workplace gender equality, diversity and inclusion assessments and strategies, including recruitment and retention
• Women's economic empowerment and livelihood programmes
• Gender and inclusion training and capacity building
• Gender and inclusion monitoring, auditing and reporting

Human rights considerations are increasingly shaping business decisions, stakeholder expectations, and regulatory requirements. SLR supports organisations in identifying, assessing, and managing human rights risks and impacts across their operations, supply chains, and projects. Grounded in internationally recognised standards, our approach integrates human rights into due diligence, risk management, and decision-making processes, strengthening meaningful engagement with affected rightsholders and supporting more responsible, resilient business practices and access to remedy.

Our Services

• Human rights governance and strategy
• Supply chain mapping and risk screening
• Human Rights Risk Assessments (HRRA)
• Human rights due diligence and audits
• Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA)
• Human rights management systems and reporting

Human capital is a critical pillar of successful business and decent work principles are increasingly recognised as fundamental to responsible business practice, resilient operations, and positive workplace outcomes.

SLR supports organisations in understanding and addressing labour and workplace related risks and opportunity, whilst creating safe, inclusive, and productive working environments. By embedding good labour practices and employee engagement across operations and supply chains, we help clients strengthen workplace wellbeing, reduce operational risks, improve retention, and support long-term business performance.

Our Services

• Human Resources policy development and strengthening
• Human Resource management systems (HRMS) development
• HRMS training and capacity building
• Labour risk assessment, due diligence and audits
• Labour and decent work action plans
• Labour and HR specialist advisory, investigations and technical assistance
• Living wage and pay parity assessments

Companies increasingly face operational, ESG, security, human rights and social licence risks where ASM occurs within or adjacent to their mining and agricultural or forestry concessions. Effective ASM engagement is becoming a business necessity rather than a voluntary initiative and can be shaped into an opportunity to create value by fostering transparent and resilient supply chains when approached holistically.

SLR has in-house niche expertise in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM), underpinned by our broad and deep technical capabilities in mining and sustainable sourcing, and by our physical presence and contextual understanding of operating environments in Africa and Latin America.

Our Services:

• ASM baseline assessment
• Stakeholder engagement frameworks
• Livelihood-sensitive ASM strategy
• Traceability and responsible sourcing solutions
• ESG due diligence and risk assessment
• ASM strategy development and formalisation programmes

SLR has developed a strong understanding of Indigenous Peoples, First Nations, and Traditional Communities’ rights, governance structures, consultation and consent processes, and culturally appropriate engagement approaches. We apply this knowledge to deliver rights-based, community-centred impact assessments and regulatory support. We bring our technical, relationship-building, and strategic expertise to support Indigenous communities in advancing their community well-being, building capacity, and realizing project benefits.

Our team works collaboratively with Indigenous governments, rights holders, and community representatives to integrate Indigenous knowledge, community priorities, and cultural values into assessment processes, while supporting Indigenous-led decision-making.

Our Services:

• Facilitation and Engagement
• Strategic Planning
• Training and Capacity Building
• Socio-economic Studies
• Funding Applications
• Indigenous Relations
• Economic Modeling
• Business Planning
• Policy Development and Implementation
• Program Planning

SLR’s multidisciplinary team helps organisations understand and manage heritage values through practical, outcomes-focused solutions. We balance conservation, adaptive reuse, and change through effective stakeholder engagement and a strong understanding of statutory and policy requirements.

• Conservation management plans and strategies
• Conservation and adaptive reuse works
• Disaster risk management strategy
• Heritage architecture and design
• Interpretation strategies and plans
• Local heritage surveys, lists, and strategies
• Cultural heritage regulatory approvals and engagement
• Heritage regulatory approvals
• Designing with country workshops
• Assessments, impact statements, and archival records
• Expert witness

SLR understands that protecting health, reducing health disparities, and improving well-being is a shared responsibility. Our health impact specialists engage with local authorities, health professionals, and communities to understand how policies and projects influence population health and how impacts are distributed. We support clients in identifying health opportunities and risks, assessing changes to health determinants and outcomes, and developing measures to enhance benefits and mitigate adverse effects. Particular attention is given to vulnerable groups who may experience disproportionate impacts and require tailored support to achieve positive health outcomes.

Our Services:

• Scoping studies for Health Impact Assessments
• Health Baseline Studies
• Health Impact Assessment (rapid or in-depth)
• Health Management Plans
• Influx Management Plans
• Psycho-social Impact Assessments