Alison McCallum

As a social scientist, the focus of my work experience has been in the general field of ‘social performance’, predominantly in the extractive industry, forestry, and more recently in the renewable energy sector. Over the last 22 years, I have focused most of my career on working with corporate clients to improve their social performance at both the corporate and operations level. In this space, much of my work is aimed at improving the ability and capacity of clients to deliver on their social and community commitments and mandates - essentially, to translate the theory of social performance into practice.

At present, much of my time is invested in the capacity building of social and community practitioners - predominantly through the design and delivery of training programmes, mentoring, and working on site alongside these practitioners. A curiosity and commitment in training design is to facilitate learning that goes beyond only technical content - to deeper levels where real learning and change happens.

Another area of work and passion is the design and facilitation of processes (workshops and events) that connect people and allow for fresh thinking and exchange of ideas. My work in this space has been deeply influenced by Nancy Kline’s Time to Think, and Otto Scharmer’s Theory U.

In terms of my work experience, this is best summarised as follows: process design and facilitation; course development and training; development of guidelines and methodologies for improving the social performance of extractive industry operations; on-site work with community relations staff to ensure implementation of corporate policies; resettlement planning; social performance assurance at operation’s level; due diligence and IFC compliance assurance; risk assessment processes; development of stakeholder engagement strategies; and social impact assessments.