SMI is committed to enhancing the socio-economic capacity, prosperity and sustainable development of our neighboring communities in a manner that avoids dependency on the Tampakan Project and improves long-term quality of life.

We believe the proposed Project can be a catalyst for regional development and will deliver strong social economic benefits to the broader community. Our social development programs include support for infrastructure development, access to education and health facilities and services, safeguarding of cultural values, institutional capacity building, and enterprise development.

Even though the Project is not yet approved, SMI is already making a difference. In 2010, SMI spent PhP135 million (USD2.8 million) on various community development programs, providing real and long-term benefits for local communities, including:

• Financial support for approximately 19,000 elementary, high school and college students
• Implementation of the Synergeia Foundation Program in 15 elementary schools which aims to improve the quality of basic education by engaging with parents, teachers, community leaders and school officials to improve processes enabling children to learn better
• Support for health insurance for over 3,000 households as well as medical and dental missions
• Livelihood development programs on new farming technology and farm support, banana, corn and potato production, dressmaking and other projects, supporting over 600 farmers and tribal members
• The project has helped improve the lives of over 600 farmers and tribal members
• Planting and donating 600,000 seedlings within the region since 2005

We have also partnered with the Department of Interior and Local Government and three local government units to conduct extensive baseline mapping of our host communities. This is the first time that such data has been gathered and will help:

• Establish more quantitative outcomes and impact-driven targets for our community development programs
• Enable local governments to produce comprehensive development plans.

For further information regarding our community development programs, please refer to our 2010 Sustainability Report.