Since the management of PHC was put in Congolese hands in February 2021, the company has spared no effort to improve.
The climate of good understanding with the communities that host it. This materialized on July 3, 2021, when the customary chiefs of the villages of Yalisubu, Tongoso and Yabongonda came to Lileko to bless the oil palm trees planted there by PHC and ask PHC to resume its activities on the plantation. .
This happened because at the beginning of 2020, the communities of these villages which belong to the Mwando group had created a Non-Governmental Development Organization (NGDO) called MUDEV (Mwando Uni pour le Développement) in order to exploit the oil palms. located in the Lileko Division of PHC's Lokutu plantation where the company's activities had been suspended.
The NGDO MUDEV had purchased artisanal oil extraction presses and hired community members to do the harvesting and maintenance work in Lileko Division. The oils produced in this way were sold by MUDEV on the local market.
Discussions between the communities and the PHC company for the restitution of land had begun on May 15, 2021, when, at the request of customary chiefs and MUDEV officials, a meeting was organized with a delegation from the PHC company led by its new Managing Director (Link to the report).
At this meeting, MUDEV officials explained that due to the financial difficulties associated with the exploitation of the palm oil regimes in Lileko Division, the communities preferred that the company resume its activities in the Division concerned, but requested the company to compensate their members who had worked in the maintenance of the plantation in Lileko but had not been paid by MUDEV.
PHC officials, community representatives and MUDEV then worked hand in hand to identify which workers should be rewarded and the level of compensation to which they were entitled. A total of 338 people received financial compensation paid by PHC for Lileko Division maintenance work they performed between April 2020 and May 2021.
This ceremony of customary chiefs and the resumption of activities by PHC in Lileko Division open a new page in the relationship between PHC and its host communities and is part of PHC's new orientation to affirm the values of integrity and respect. , and to work for shared prosperity with all its stakeholders.
In accordance with the commitments made during the meeting of May 15, PHC has already started to recruit the workers of the Lileko Division among the members of the Mwando Group and to carry out the works included in the social clauses signed between the company and the communities, in particular the construction of 10 schools, the resumption of the management of its hospitals and their upgrading of the facilities of the Hospitals. Other community development support activities are in preparation.