Project Affected Communities and Livelihoods

Project affected communities are the interacting population who are affected either positively or negatively by a nearby hydropower project and its associated infrastructure.

At each stage of the project, steps should be taken to identify issues relating to project affected communities and to develop and implement management and stakeholder engagement plans and processes.

Understanding good practice

Good practice seeks an outcome in which livelihoods and living standards are improved relative to pre-project conditions, and commitments to project affected communities are fully delivered over an appropriate period of time.

International industry good practice in project affected communities and livelihoods for hydropower projects is defined in the Hydropower Sustainability Guidelines on Good International Industry Practice (HGIIP).

Download the guideline→

Assessing project performance

Two assessment tools are available to measure hydropower project performance:

In Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP), Project Affected Communities and Livelihoods is addressed in P-13 for the preparation stage, I-9 for the implementation stage and O-9 for the operation stage.
In Hydropower Sustainability ESG Gap Analysis Tool, Project Affected Communities and Livelihoods is addressed in Section 4.