| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT. Natural resources are in abundance but have not benefited resourcebased
communities. The mining industry, especially in developing countries, has
fallen short of working towards sustainable community practices. Different
governance initiatives adopted by governments to make the communities beneficiaries
of these resources are yet to bring sustainable results. Government is seen as the sole
actor on policymaking and its implementation, and the production and delivery of
goods and services. Acknowledgement is not given to the roles and responsibilities of
the resource-based communities to work as co-partners towards sustainable
community development. Hence, this thesis argues that government policies should
move away from seeing resource communities as recipients and representatives in
policymaking towards co-partnership. As such, this thesis aims to explore the
dynamics between resource use and achieving sustainable community development
by exploring the barriers and potential for sustainable community development in
diamond mining communities in Kono, Eastern Sierra Leone. To do this, the thesis
uses data from a wide rage of indebt semi-structured interviews, documents and focus
group discussions from four case studies representing four chiefdoms to point out a
shift from the governance approach of institutionalisation to adaptive governance
approach that will make the resource communities self-determined and sustainable.
The thesis deals with three objectives. First, a focus is put on the relationship between
resource exploitation and community governance in mining communities through an
analysis of key actors and their roles at a range of scales. Second, in an attempt to find
out the scope of sustainability in resource-based communities, attention is given to the
ways mining communities utilise their assets and undertake practices that contribute
towards sustainable community development. Third, in finding answers from issues
arising in these communities and the prospect for effective mining policies, the thesis
attempts to identify both the structural and community-based barriers to promoting
sustainable community development in mining communities and then make policy
recommendations for community development in such communities.
Key Words: Resource Exploitation; Community Development, Community
Governance, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Community Development | en_GB |
