LUCARA ON BUILDING RESILIENT COMMUNITIES By Bakang Thuso
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ucara Botswana continues to be a leader in the mining sector successfully extracting some of the country's most valuable gems. As the only privately-owned diamond mine in the country, it consistently champions the industry by advancing the lives of many citizens. Its community empowerment-based projects cover pillars of education, economic growth, gender equality particularly centred on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and agriculture, to mention a few. Naseem Lahri is the first-ever woman to assume the leadership role of Managing Director (MD) in the mining industry in Botswana. Lahri is an accomplished Professional Accountant with a Master's in Strategic Management (BCOM, FCCA). She boasts more than 17 years of experience in the mining industry, including 10 years within Corporate Finance at Debswana at the senior management level. She has also served as a board member in the Debswana Pension Fund, Botswana Accountancy College, and Pula Medical Aid.
Naseem Lahri, Lucara Mine CEO
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Lucara's United Nations (UN) SDGs focus When it comes to sustainable community development initiatives Lucara Botswana works on partnership-based projects that can sustain themselves after the funding process. The mining company asserts that donating money vouchers to an individual does not meet the goal of community advancement as their CSR projects are aligned to 17 principles of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Lucara subscribes to SDGs pillar 1, 2, 3 4,5,6,8,9,16 and 17. Lahri indicated that Lucara subscribed its community's development projects to the UN SDGs so as to make a meaningful and sustainable impact on the communities of influence. Lucara's Karowe Mine, is based in Letlhakeng, a small town in the Boteti region. As the mine's town of operation, it has
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