CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN GHANA: ARE WE GETTING IT RIGHT?

An Overview:

Pause for a moment and reflect on this question: Are companies with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) imparting our communities as expected? This question partially occupied my mind during a special trip in Ghana. This piece expounds on the mirage and reality dichotomy of CSR in Ghana.

With businesses focusing on making profits, CSR has not been a popular concern among companies until recently. The concept of CSR can be seen as a management framework and mechanism for making a contribution to sustainable development. However, it is possible to achieve a high level of CSR without contributing to sustainable development. In the face of the huge revenue generated by companies that are into mining, telecommunication etc, there is a growing concern amongst cross section of Ghanaians, including incessant pressure from NGOs and civil society groups on the need for these companies to adopt effective CSR policies and commit more resources to the sustainable development of communities in which they operate and the country as a whole.

Despite the government’s continual effort towards providing the basic needs of its people, it is still not devoid of pressure from other sectors of the economy such as education, health, ICT, water and sanitation, employment and so forth. As a result of the pressure and competition that exist among these sectors, companies step in to pay their quota towards development of the nation. As a fact, a school of thought asserts that companies with CSR activities play an important role as agent of change whose immense contribution to improved living standards cannot be over-emphasised. 

 

It must be said that the contributions of companies to CSR in Ghana are worth noting. Community development efforts by these companies are focused on human resource development, infrastructure provision, economic empowerment, natural resources, cultural heritage, sports etc. To mention a few examples, Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADeF) has invested in a variety of projects under education, health, water and sanitation, ICT, economic empowerment, sports and others in the Ahafo communities including Adrobaa, Afrisipakrom, Gyedu, Kenyasi No. 1, Kenyasi No. 2, Ntotroso, Susuanso, Terchire, Wamahinso and Yamfo. Also, the MTN Ghana Foundation has invested in a variety of education, health and economic empowerment projects in the country. All these contributions or projects are in the name of CSR. 

While it is obvious to predict the expected impacts of these projects in terms of school enrollment, reading spaces, security, health care delivery, employment to name a few; a deep question emerges. Thus, are the intended beneficiaries experiencing these impacts as expected? In seeking answers to the question, the researcher took a trip to some communities with CSR projects. Interestingly, providers of these projects and their intended beneficiaries were not on the same page as responses differ from each other. The findings indicated that the providers and intended beneficiaries sounded positive and negative respectively. An enquiry into the negative responses revealed that community participation was not effective with regards to the CSR projects. Thus, the community was not fully involved in the project implementation. A sad observation made from the trip was that some of the completed projects were abandoned by the intended beneficiaries.

The crux of the above contention is addressed to these companies with CSR activities. Do these companies consider the acceptability, user satisfaction, durability and sustainability of projects before and after their implementation?

The Way Forward:

In the quest to propose appropriate policies and measures to promote effective CSR for leveraging sustainable development in communities and Ghana at large, there is the need to consider the following:

First and foremost, the legislative framework in Ghana is silent on CSR towards the communities in which companies operate. In fact, there is no national policy framework that guides the implementation of CSR in Ghana and thus companies are therefore not bound by law to implement CSR activities in the country. This implies that companies in Ghana undertake CSR activities more in response to moral convictions rather than legal obligations. A review of other country’s experience such as Australia and South Africa show that CSR is incorporated in their legislative framework. It is therefore expedient if Ghana as a country adopts and formulate policies and legal frameworks that solely ensure the implementation of CSR programmes or activities of companies within their areas of operations. Also, the Government of Ghana should set the agenda for social responsibility by the way of laws and regulations that will allow companies to conduct themselves responsibly through CSR.

Moreover, in line with the above, firms’ CSR should ensure popular participation in project implementation. Best practices have it that people who are affected by particular development projects should be involved as much as possible in all stages of the implementation to ensure that detailed information on social condition and needs of the people is obtained. Popular participation helps to encourage a sense of involvement and commitment to the project by the people.

There is no doubt that CSR activities have not played an ameliorative role in the context of significant social disruption and socio-economic development challenges in the wake of the upsurge of industrial growth. However, there is still room for improvement. It is hoped that if the recommendations suggested are adopted and followed through, CSR activities will put smiles on the faces of intended beneficiaries.