The economic and social outcomes of mining development can be enhanced by positioning local
communities central to development activities.Conventional approaches have failed to respond to the
needs of the community without this involvement indecision making.Accordingly,novel development
approaches for community involvement and sustainability have to recognize the complex nature of
social systems in which mining sector exists. The objective of this paper is to develop a community-
centered approach by integrating rapid and participatory nature of design thinking with
multi-criteria
decision analysis(MCDA)in order to support sustainable development. While design thinking engages
multiple stakeholders for generating alternatives,MCDA provides metrics for assessing these
alternatives. Drawing on an example from a small scale mining development in Central America,this paper shows that early community involvement and rigorous impact assessment on a regular basis motivate
community involvement and give value to the social outcome of mining development.