6.3 Community Management
Community Management and Operations
Our work at Metro is based on a community management model applied at the operational line level. This allows us to involve neighbours in various ways, for example, at local town meetings, or community events and activities held at our stations.
In 2016 we focused our management activities on fostering direct and concrete involvement of our communities located near our stations and network. Not only did this provide us with the opportunities to hear them out and learn about their needs, but we were also able to keep the lines of communication open and invite the public to take part in facility tours. Furthermore, we set up several partnership with local actors in order to hold various activities at stations throughout our network. The latter led to a handful of projects based on shared value and mutual benefits, such as community murals, urban interventions, cultural shows and exhibits, healthcare fairs, folk music and dance shows, along with many other events.
Worth highlighting were the many tours we led at our operational sites and corporate offices. In 2016 , 699 adults, young people and children took part in these tours. A total of 81 activities took place along Metro lines, which is 38% more than in 2015. These activities were primarily aimed at boosting ties with local surroundings, followed by community gatherings, and meetings with local government authorities.
| Activities (Operations) | 2016 Activities | |
|---|---|---|
| Number | % of Operations Involved | |
| Meeting with local government authorities | 17 | 21% |
| Community gatherings | 17 | 21% |
| Activities related to ties with local surroundings | 31 | 38% |
| Complaint Management | 14 | 17% |
| Meetings with other stakeholders | 2 | 2% |
| Total | 81 | 100% |
Community Murals
With a view to integrating the community and fostering an appreciation for art and culture in areas surrounding our facilities and projects, we launched an initiative to paint several murals at our stations and on walls enclosing our construction sites. In 2016, we unveiled four murals painted on walls fencing in our future stations and two mosaics installed at operating stations.
Health Care Fairs
In 2016 we held several free health-related activities open to the community, such as healthcare fairs at more than ten stations in the San Ramón and San Miguel counties where we provided preventive healthcare exams to our passengers and neighbors in conjunction with local family and community health centers. We also forged an alliance with the Metropolitan Blood Bank in order to hold several blood donation campaigns in 2017 while also educating our users at San Ramon stations on World AIDS Day.
Urban Interventions
During this period we were involved in three urban interventions throughout our network. In December, the Mustakis Foundation put on an event at our stations in the Recoleta District at Christmastime, bringing the magic of storytelling to Metro’s steps and gifting our passengers with “Stories of Light.” On Line 5 stations located in Maipú we held several urban interventions with students enrolled in Disability Workshops put on by the Municipal Office for Disabilities. Finally, we held performances by the musical ensemble “Caporales Reales Brillantes” which delighted our passengers in Line 5 with their traditional music and dances from northern Chile.
Community Management and Expansion Projects
The year 2016 was a period in which we enjoyed the fruits of our labor, making progress on previous efforts undertaken with local communities regarding Line 6 and 3 construction works. These construction projects were challenging because we needed to find a way to involve our stakeholders in order to consolidate our role as a key player in those territories and focus our efforts on these areas to foster better communication with stakeholders present there.
Projects Carried Out
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Community Murals: this year we decided to find a new way to connect with our neighbors by beautifying areas surrounding our future stations. This involved painting community murals on the enclosures set up around the perimeter of our construction sites. The areas were filled with historical content, local pride and color. Neighbors themselves painted these artworks, and splattered color and identity all over the future Plaza de Chacabuco, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Cal y Canto and Plaza de Armas stations.
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Construction Site Tours: a total of 68 tours were given at construction sites within the context of Project 63. Various stakeholders took part in these tours, which were personalized according to the group’s features: educational tours for professional and university establishments; tours for authorities; tours for community members (living close by or next to our construction sites); union organizations; ; diplomats; Metro workers and their families, etc. A total of 1,093 visitors toured our construction sites as part of Project 63. We are very proud of this figure, which is more than 50% greater than the number of visitors in 2015.
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Coordination and Work Committees: We made the most of our committee meetings to address important community issues. We listened our neighbours and came up with solutions to their concerns in 67 of these activities that took place in 2016. They were successful in that we reached mutually beneficial agreements. The table below illustrates how we focused our efforts primarily on resolving construction project-related complaints (44% of all activities) while the remaining 56% of activities were aimed at creating better ties with our stakeholders in each territory. The other types of activities held included meetings with local community members and others, technical and work meetings, and tours of construction sites.
Projects Undertaken in 2016
| 2016 Activities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Activities (Projects) | Number of Activities Held | |
| No. | % | |
| Meetings with Stakeholders | 53 | 11% |
| Technical and Work Meetings with Local Governments | 67 | 14% |
| Community Gatherings | 91 | 18% |
| Construction site/facility tours | 68 | 14% |
| Complaints Management | 215 | 44% |
| Total | 494 | 100% |
Pepe González Campaign
In 2016 we launched a campaign entitled, “Pepe González, anyone can be a good neighbor” at all P63 stations, with the objective of encouraging good social and environmental practices among our workers and contractor company workers involved in Project 63.
Our Community Relations Area spearheaded this campaign.Its roll out was the result of a field study we conducted which included an assessment on complaints lodged by neighbors. We used this information to identify the main community relation risks and areas requiring improvement. A few examples include, being nicer to neighbors, cutting down on noise, better control of contractor vehicles in front of community residences, and keeping the worksite clean.
The importance of this initiative lies in its ability to aid us in improving our community relations. As a company we must be an example of good practices at our worksites, which presents us with the challenge of being the best role model of good practices in our surroundings, and fostering a culture of good manners, respect and harmony with communities living near our projects.
We made progress during this period by giving presentations to our own workers and contractor workers, and training them:
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Metro Workers: 40
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Contractor Workers: 4,209
Community Complaints Management
[G4-DMA] [G4-EN34] [G4-SO2] As a company we conduct quarterly follow-ups on the social and environmental risks of our construction projects and operations. Our Customer and Sustainability Division delegates this activity to a team of employees dedicated to managing relations with stakeholders present in our areas of operation, and other areas where we have work committees and other dialogue outlets aimed at finding solutions to our stakeholders’ needs, demands and expectations.
As far as the social and environmental impact of our operations and new construction projects are concerned, a total of 229 complaints were reported in 2016, which is 19% less than the previous year.
| 19% | Fewer Complaints |
Moreover, most of these complaints (215 cases) were lodged in association with construction projects, accounting for 94% of all complaints, while the remaining 6% of complaints are operations-related.
Furthermore, after studying the reasons why individuals filed complaints, we saw that most complaints were related to noise, accounting for 49% of all complaints, followed by rude contractor workers at 18%. Both reasons account for more than two thirds of all complaints received during the construction phase. It is worth noting that Line 3 construction project received the highest numbers of complaints in 2016 (66%) while only 34% of all complaints filed in 2016 were related to Line 6.
Reasons for Complaints
