Social impacts are changes to the social and cultural dimensions of human environment. The human environments that may be impacted include;

· people’s way of life;

· their community;

· their political systems;

· their environment; their health and wellbeing;

· their personal and property rights; and

· their fears and aspirations (Vanclay, Esteves, Aucamp & Franks, 2015).

Social impact assessment (SIA) can be defined as the processes of analsying, monitoring and managing the intended and unintended social consequences, both positive and negative, of planned interventions (policies, programs, plans, projects) and any social change processes invoked by those interventions (Vanclay 2003).

Simply put SIA is a process of assessing or estimating, in advance, the social consequences that are likely to follow from specific policy actions or project development in a society (Burdge and Vanclay,1995; UNEP, 2007).

According to (IISD, 2016) Social impact assessment looks at both social issues and environmental impacts and their interactions. The aim of social impact assessment is to achieve sustainable development outcomes.

The Objectives of the SIA are to:

1. Develop and understand the role and scope in relation to the EIA process.

2. Determine the types of social impacts that can result from development proposals, and

3. Determine principles, procedure and methods that are used to assess and mitigate social impacts (Nwafor, 2006).

In trying to achieve the above objectives, the SIA must address

· key social issues relating to community and stakeholder engagement;

· workforce management;

· housing and accommodation;

· local business and industry procurement; and

· health and community well-being.