International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 4 No.

13; October 2013

Institutionalising Corporate Social Responsibility for Local Community

Development: Processes and Outcomes

Sam K. Afrane
College of Arts and Social Sciences
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Ghana, Kumasi.
Bernard Adjei-Poku
Department of Planning
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Ghana, Kumasi.

Abstract
Although wealth creation is the core aim of corporations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly
attracting critical attention particularly due to the impact of business activities on communities and the
environment. Among others, it has been noted that strategic planning influences the scale of CSR. This study
aimed at assessing the institutional frameworks necessary to spur CSR in relation to community development. The
study adopted descriptive and classical experimental methods in assessing the processes and outcomes of CSR
interventions of Gold Fields Ghana Ltd, a leading mining company operating in Ghana. The study established
that properly instituting corporate social responsibility (CSR), such that it is well structured with appropriate
leadership, planning and financial input can result in considerable contribution to community development.
Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, processes, outcomes, planning, community development
1. Introduction
Stakeholders of corporations vary, and may change overtime (Elias, Cavana and Jackson, 2000). By offering
space for such businesses, the community remains a perpetual stakeholder so long as the business survives. Albeit
stakeholders abound, including shareholders, employees and their families, managers, the government, suppliers
and consumers, business partners, etc., there appears to be increasing emphasis of corporate social responsibilities
(CSR) on the development of the local economy (Thorpe, 2011; Owusu-Manu, Badu and Otu-Nyarko, 2010; Fox,
Ward and Howard, 2002). Seeking permit for logging in Ghana, for instance under the Timber Resources
Management Act 1998, requires the company to secure a “Social Responsibility Agreement” with the customary
owners of the land, and that should include a pledge of specific contributions to local community development
(Fox, Ward and Howard, 2002).
CSR has been criticized on grounds that it distracts businesses from meeting the primary goal of profit making,
and that business lacks the legitimacy and competency to take on any such responsibility outside its primary area
of expertise (Henderson, 2001). On the contrary, proponents of CSR contend that the massive increase in business
power, the widespread incidence of corporate misdemeanours, issues of ethics and the increasing inability of
governments to meet the basic responsibility to society as well as regulate business activities have meant that the
acceptance of social responsibility by business is both inevitable and a necessity (Carroll, 1991; Bowie, 1991;
Moon, 2001). This response to critics resonate the notion of applying CSR for community development, in that,
CSR can complement the effort of governments in meeting the basic needs of societies. Again, the business is
able to gain from CSR in terms of better reputation and risk management, and the ability to extend into new
markets. A study has shown that key benefits of CSR to the business include higher sales, reduced costs and lower
risks, enhanced reputation, strengthened human resources and improved access to capital (Forstater et al., 2010).
Various corporate social responsibility interventions have emerged which reflect local business culture, issues and
drivers of change. About three generations of CSR have been identified.

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The first group is primarily characterized by ad hoc responses to social and environmental issues and challenges
threatening businesses. Such social responsibility interventions are generally in response to pressure from the
local environment. These are mostly uncoordinated and have virtually no link with corporate existence of the
business. The second category comprises companies taking a more professional approach to impact assessment,
defining commitments and targets, measuring and reporting on performance. This group recognizes the effect of
business operations on the environment, and thus takes proactive commitments towards addressing them. The last
group aligns business strategies toward sustainable development (Forstater et al., 2010).
The last two generations of CSR have witnessed introduction of planning imperatives. Meanwhile, scholars have
recognized the relevance of strategic planning in addressing stakeholder expectations. Through an active analysis
of the environment, for instance, businesses can account for issues of government regulations, social nature,
communities and societies, and develop proper responses (Sabir et al, 2012). Thus, businesses are better able to
provide CSR to stakeholders through strategic planning. This forms the basis for this study.
Community development can better be achieved when CSR is built into the corporate existence of the business,
and that proper institutions or framework are clearly laid out. In fact, it has been noted that companies which
systemically analyze environmental conditions, allocate resources for planning and assure functional integration
to address both market and non-market issues, increase the scale of CSR (Sabir et al, 2012). Evidently, the case of
Gold Fields Ghana Ltd, a mining company in Ghana, offers interesting insight into the proposition that strategic
planning results in effective CSR, which in turn leads to community development.
The company, through its Foundation, prepared a five year strategic plan (2002 – 2011) aimed at implementing
CSR in 16 stakeholder communities. By 2012, the plan implementation had ended and an infrastructure impact
assessment was conducted. This paper therefore assesses the institutional arrangements, planning and
implementation processes, sustainability and outcomes of the CSR in relation to community development. It
argues that a well planned, financed and implemented CSR, regardless the magnitude, has the potency of
contributing to community development. And that, with proper plans for CSR, partnerships can be built with local
development authorities for sustainability of projects. With these, the paper makes valuable contribution to the
literature regarding a clear institutional arrangements, processes and outcomes of CSR for community
development. Another contribution of this paper is that it completes the Gold Fields’ CSR example already
mentioned in the literature (Forstater et al, 2010) while it was still under implementation. This paper thus fills the
gap by linking the processes of the company’s CSR interventions with outcomes.
2. Csr, Mining And Community Development
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) emerged in the 1950s (Carroll, 1999; Carroll and Beiler, 1977; Bowen,
1953 cited in Garriga and Mele´, 2004) but it remains an emerging and elusive idea for academics, and a
contested issue for corporations and stakeholders mainly due to the divergent definitions (Welford, 2004). The
literature shows there is no single definition of CSR. A compilation of definitions by individuals and
organizations found seventeen definitions different in wording and focus (Kakabadse, Rozuel and Lee-Davies,
2005). However, it appears clearly in majority of these definitions that CSR relate to activities businesses execute
to ensure sustainable use of the environment as well as ‘caring for people’, as used by Novo Nordisk (2003).
Since the 1950s, the concept has evolved from stakeholder model and social responsibilities of business people to
management field or integration into management theory (Kakabadse, Rozuel and Lee-Davies, 2005).
The foregoing indicates that the boundaries of CSR is not definite. It means something, but not always the same
thing to everybody (Garriga and Mele´, 2004). Attempts have been made to delineate the boundaries (Frederick,
1998; Wood, 1991; Altman, 1998). Garriga and Mele´ (2004) classified CSR theories and related approaches with
the assumption that these focus on one of economics, politics, social integration and ethics. Based on this, CSR
was classified into four: instrumental, political, integrative and ethical theories or approaches. The instrumental
group recognizes that corporations are instruments of wealth creation and that CSR is a mere means to an end.
The political group includes corporations responding to CSR as a result of their social power in relation to the
political arena. The integrative group captures businesses providing CSR due to the dependence on the society for
continuity and growth. Thus, CSR must be integrated into business operations because of the survival of the
business. Lastly, the ethical group of CSR is based on the fact that the relationship between business and society
is embedded with ethical values.

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This makes corporations accept social responsibilities as an ethical obligation above any other consideration.
Much of these categorizations appear clearly in areas, such as developed countries, where CSR has been properly
defined and structured in terms of legislations and role of governments (UN, 2007).
Globally, sustainable development concerns requiring CSR among corporations are enshrined in international
agreements such as the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Tripartite Declaration on Principles Concerning
Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, and the United Nations Global Compact. These compel corporations,
especially larger ones, to assume certain social responsibilities.
Ghana, like most sub-Saharan Africa and developing countries in general, is still evolving regarding national
perspectives and commitment of corporations to CSR. There appears not a comprehensive document on CSR in
Ghana. However, there are a variety of policies, laws on various sectors such as mining, etc, practices and
initiatives that together provide some guidelines for CSR interventions (Atuguba and Dowuona-Hammond, 2006).
The seemingly lack of clear-cut CSR policy for Ghana is critical particularly in the mining sector where the
operations sometimes dislocate not only the economic structure, but also the socio-cultural fabrics of
communities. It has been noted that the most environmentally and socially disruptive business undertaken is the
exploration, extraction and processing of minerals. Yet in Ghana, all mining activities account for an area of
31,237 km2, representing a share of about 13.1% of the country’s total land area resources (Amponsah-Tawiah
and Dartey-Baah, 2007). The dire impact of mining operations on poverty and sustainable development has been
bemoaned (Boon and Abaidoo, 2009). Contrary, the mining companies have argued that in developing countries
like Ghana, poverty is generally pervasive in many mining and non-mining communities, and that the presence
and operations of mining companies in local communities do not really cause poverty and vulnerability (Boon and
Abaidoo, 2009).
Notwithstanding, mining contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and foreign exchange
earnings. In terms of contribution to national income and foreign exchange, mining accounts for 5% of the
country's GDP and minerals make up 37% of total exports, of which gold contributes over 90%. Ghana also
produces 10% of the world’s gold and ranks second in African production. In addition, mining companies under
Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM), employs over 17,500 people (Boon and Abaidoo, 2009).
One argument put forward by the GCM regarding the mining companies and poverty in communities is that, they
make social investments in stakeholder communities and that contribute to improving the well-being of people
and facilitating community development. Caution must however be taken in order that mining companies do not
become surrogate government (Boon and Abaidoo, 2009). This study is situated in this milieu. This study
attempts to investigate the institutions or frameworks that allow for effective CSR interventions which can
contribute to meaningful community development. The experience of Gold Fields Ghana Ltd presents insightful
case for examining this issue.
3. Research Methods And Approaches
3.1 Research design
The paper combines descriptive and classical experimental methods (the before and after scenario) to understand,
in entirety, processes and outcomes of CSR for community development. The processes, that is, institutional
arrangements, plans and implementation of projects, were assessed more descriptively. However, the outcomes of
implementing the CSR in relation to community development were approached using the ‘before’ and ‘after’
method for each infrastructure (example education, health, water and sanitation, etc). Additionally, a set of impact
indicators were generated and were assessed by the respondents with a scale ranging from ‘very good’ to ‘very
bad’.
3.2 Data types and survey methods
Data were obtained from primary and secondary sources. Reports and expenditure statements obtained from the
company served as the main secondary materials used to describe the processes. Focus group discussions and key
informant interviews were conducted with project officials of the company, local authorities, and household
questionnaire administration to obtain full description of processes and impact of the CSR interventions.

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In all, a sample of 990 households was interviewed in the 16 stakeholder communities in Damang and Tarkwa
mining sites of the company. As a result, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed.
3.3 Data analysis
The 990 answered questionnaires were quantitatively analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences
(SPSS). This allowed cross tabulation and other statistical analysis of responses obtained for ‘before’ and ‘after’
situation of each impact indicator. An impact level was determined based on the number of responses for an
indicator under ‘before’ in relation to ‘after’ interventions of the company. In the impact analysis, for there to be
improvement, the situation for an indicator (as the responses depict) in relation to ‘after’ must be better than that
of ‘before’. The qualitative data analyses enriched the overall analyses.
3. 4 Profile of study areas
Gold Fields Ghana Ltd. is located in the Western Region of Ghana. The concession of the company covers two
sites; Tarkwa and Damang, with the sixteen project communities (see Fig. 1). The two sites fall within two local
government jurisdictions; Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality and Prestea-Huni Valley district. The two are located
between Latitude 40 0’N and 50 40’N and Longitudes 10 45’ W and 20 10’W. It is bounded to the north by the
Wassa Amenfi East District, the south by the Ahanta West District, the West by the Nzema East Municipal and
the East by Mpohor Wassa East. The municipality and the district have a total land area of 2,354 sq. km. It has
about 8 urban centres and over 456 rural communities.
The 2010 Population and Housing Census recorded a total population of 249,781 and a growth rate of 2.97
percent for the two districts. Male to female ratio was 103:100. Labour force, population within the ages of 15-64
constituted 70.1 percent, which is far higher than that of regional and national figures of 53.1 and 52.2 percent
respectively. This is possibly due to the mining related activity in the study areas which is male dominated.
In terms of infrastructure, the study areas have a total road network of 627.1Km. Part of the road network is very
poor, while some parts are being improved upon. For example, the Tarkwa – Bogoso trunk road is very poor but
the Apemanim–Tarkwa Road (62km) is being asphalted. For effective health delivery, the area is demarcated into
seven (7) operational health sub-districts with at least one health facility to facilitate accessibility. The District
also has a number of private clinics and maternity homes, which support the few public health facilities. The areas
have a total of 371 public basic schools comprising the various levels, that is, primary, secondary and
vocational/technical.
The economy of the study areas is dominated by agriculture, mining and service. Mining activities started in the
study areas long before the Geological Survey Department was established in 1913. Irrespective of the scale of
mining in the study areas, the predominant economic activity is agriculture, employing over 40 percent of the
people. However, female population engaged in agriculture is estimated to be 70% of the total farmers due to high
dominance of male in mostly illegal mining related activities called ‘galamsey’ and other non-agriculture related
activities. One challenge is that mining concessions take up agricultural land, which displaces farmers from their
livelihoods. This makes a planned, sustainable corporate social responsibility a critical issue for mining
companies in the areas.
4. Results And Discussion
The data obtained from the surveys were analysed in relation to the objectives of the study. The processes include
formation of the Foundation, plan preparation and financing of projects whereas the outcomes comprise the
impact assessment and community participation and sustainability of projects.
4.1 Formation and composition of Gold Fields Foundation
Prior to the formation of Gold Fields Foundation (called the Foundation), social responsibility towards
community development was ad hoc – much dependant on community request and availability of funds. This
persisted for at least thirteen (13) years beginning from 1993. In 2002, the Gold Fields Trust Fund was
established, which was later registered as the Gold Fields Foundation in 2004.
The Foundation is recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and registered charity under the
Department of Social Welfare of the Government of Ghana, and enjoys tax exempt status. The activities of the
Foundation are governed by the applicable laws of Ghana, including the Trustees (Incorporation) Act, 1962 (Act
106).
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As per the Act, the Foundation has a Managing Trustee, who is the governing body and is responsible for
administering it in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Trust Deed and applicable legislations in
Ghana. The Managing Trustee is composed of top-level managers of the company and other high profile people
including vice President of Gold Fields West Africa, executive director of the company, managers of the two
mining sites, members of parliament, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chamber of Mines, as well as the
Company Secretary of the company who is also the secretary of the Foundation. In fact, the high calibre personnel
steering the affairs of the Foundation indicates on one hand, the company’s high commitment to CSR (GTZ,
2009) and on another, how integral CSR is to the overall objective of the company. Clearly, the Foundation’s
mission is to promote and facilitate sustainable socio-economic development in its operational areas in order to
improve the quality of life in Ghana.
4.2 Preparation, projects appropriateness and implementation of the plan
With the foregoing institutional arrangement for funding, the company prepared a comprehensive plan in 2005
which sought to improve the livelihoods and the quality of life of 30 000 poor, vulnerable men, women and
children in 16 stakeholder communities of the company by 2010. The plan, called Sustainable Community
Empowerment and Economic Development (SEED) was to be implemented over five year period. It was prepared
and executed by Opportunities Industrialisation Centres International (OICI) Ghana in partnership with the
company.
OICI Ghana provided technical assistance basically in three ways: assessment of baseline socio-economic status
of stakeholder communities; initiation and preparation of five-year Community Development Plan (CDP)
including detailed implementation plans, associated budgets, and monitoring and evaluation Plans; and training
modules for company staff in charge of the programme, community groups and leaders. OICI utilized
participatory methodologies to develop the CDPs. Small OICI technical teams composed of specialists in
agronomy, micro-enterprise development, agribusiness, micro-finance, water and sanitation, health and education
reviewed background information, conducted surveys in communities and consulted with community members,
district officials, and conducted interviews and workshops with GFG staff. The design team of OICI then
elaborated a more detailed project proposal which includes a breakdown of specific activities, or mini-projects, a
monitoring and evaluation plan, detailed implementation plan, schedule and budget, etc. Table 1 shows summary
of strategic goals covering various aspects of community development and some projects outlined for
implementation.
The five year CDPs were detailed with specific projects to be implemented in each stakeholder community as
well as implementation strategies and activities. The projects were based on community needs. During
implementation however, the community leaders were involved in various aspects of the projects including site
selection. Clearly, the CDPs did not remain on shelves as some plans do (Afrane and Adjei-Poku, 2013).
In terms of appropriateness of projects, all the different types of infrastructure projects implemented in the
communities reflected the felt-needs of the beneficiary communities. The livelihood projects for instances were
appropriate since the company disallowed mining activities called ‘galamsey’ in the concessionary. Again, the
projects reflected the policy objectives of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality and Prestea-Huni Valley District
Assembly and the central government, as well as the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
4.3 Financing community development projects
Funding for socio-economic development projects undertaken by the company is provided by US$ 1 of every
ounce of gold produced and 0.5% of pre-tax profits from the Gold Fields group of companies. Other mining
companies have similar arrangement. For instance, Golden Star Resources (GSR), another mining company in
Ghana contributes to community infrastructure development through the Golden Star Development Foundation by
contributing of US$ 1 per ounce produced plus 0.1% of pre-tax profit (Thorpe, 2011). This underscores the Gold
Fields Foundation interest in raising huge funds for community development. The total amount of funds generated
through the Foundation was not disclosed. This is so with many companies particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,
where such information is withheld usually on grounds of confidentiality (GTZ, 2009). However, in the case of
Gold Fields Ghana Ltd., records of expenditure available on community development primarily before and after
the SEED programme indicate that between 2002 and 2011, the Foundation spent above GH¢15 million (about
US$7.5 million) as Table 2 shows.

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Education and economic livelihood projects appeared to be the top priorities, each receiving more than a quarter
of the total expenditure. Over 30 percent of the total expenditure went into educational projects such as
construction of classroom blocks, teacher’s bungalows, libraries, supply of furniture and awarding scholarships.
These were done in all basic, second cycle and tertiary institutions. Closely, 26.1 percent of the total expenditure
went into livelihood programmes such as installment of processing plants, provision of seedlings, credit facilities,
building partnerships, etc.
The next major items of expenditure were projects on water and sanitation, and road construction which
comprised 15.2 and 14.7 percent respectively. Water and sanitation projects included construction of boreholes,
small water systems, toilet facilities and refuse disposal sites. Projects on water especially became critical since
mining activities in the area was perceived to have contaminated the water bodies. This effort was complemented
by the health projects (7.8%) which included construction of healthcare facilities, health education, etc. Social
projects such as community centres were the least item of expenditure, accounting for 5.4 percent of the total
expenditure.
Community development combines physical development with the development of people (Siddiquee, 1995;
Wallerstein, 1993). The expenditure pattern on these projects suggests the extent to which community
development was at the centre of the SEED programme. Also, high expenditure on these projects was strategic.
Thus, in the long run, it was expected that incidence of ‘galamsey’ on concessionary mining areas of the company
would reduce.
4.4 Impacts of infrastructure projects
An impact assessment of infrastructure projects of the company was conducted in 2012. The study, among others,
sought to assess whether project outputs/results have translated or will translate into real benefits (impacts) to
residents in the 16 primary stakeholder communities. In each sector, indicators were developed for change in
access and translation into impacts in relation to ‘Before’ and ‘After’ the company’s CSR interventions in the
communities. The study captured mainly infrastructure projects meant for the entire community. For purposes of
this paper, the impact of educational infrastructure projects have been emphasized for illustration, and a cursory
assessment of the other projects have been presented.
Education is a necessary ingredient for community development. Accordingly, the company spent over GH¢4.6
million, representing 30.8 percent. This investment in education resulted in improved access to, among others,
classrooms and teachers as shown in Table 3.
The corresponding impact of the increased access to education included enrolment, academic performance and
attraction of students to school. The ‘before’ and ‘after’ responses clearly indicate that under each indicator, there
has been significant improvement. For instance, 64.5 percent of the respondents indicated that classroom
conditions were bad in the ‘before’ situation. However, after the intervention, only 1.5 percent of the respondents
maintained that classroom conditions were ‘bad’. On the other hand, responses for ‘very good’ (1.0%) in the
before situation have increased substantially to 34.6 percent in the ‘after’ situation. This trend is similar in the
other indicators. Again, enrolment data collected from some of the schools indicated that on the average,
enrolment levels have increased by about 40 percent following educational infrastructure projects executed by the
Foundation.
The impacts of health, water and sanitation, social and road infrastructure were not any different from that of
education. Under each indicator used, the respondents reported that there had been considerable improvement in
the ‘Before’ and ‘After’ analyses. For instance, for water and sanitation, it was observed that responses for access,
adequacy and reliability of water and toilet facilities had increased by at least 28 percent in the before and after
analysis. This improvement resulted from small water systems, boreholes and toilet facilities which were provided
in various communities serving not less than 15 000 people. That of social infrastructure such as community
centre (with information and entertainment systems) was impressive. Such projects had resulted in lifting
community image, solidarity, awareness and social functions. Before interventions of the company, conditions of
the above indicators which were ‘good’, recorded 33 percent. After the interventions however, this improved to
over 60 percent. Thus, it appears quite clear that the infrastructure projects have contributed to development of the
stakeholder communities.

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4.5 Community participation and sustainability of Projects

The relevance of involving community members in development projects has been stressed in a number of studies
(Abott, 1995; Cook, 1994; Arnstein, 1969). Regarding development projects implemented by the company, only
community leaders were involved at certain stages, especially choosing projects, selecting site and in limited
cases, maintenance of facilities. The wider community was not involved except when contractors of projects hired
them as laborers. However, the community members could easily identify with the projects implemented by
company. This was due to the frequent announcement of projects being implemented through the information
systems at the community centres. As a result, information was disseminated for awareness creation mainly. This
level of community participation, according to Arnstein’s hierarchy of participation, can be described as
‘tokenism’ which only informs people about decisions already taken. Tokenism is the middle level as compared to
‘citizen power’, the highest level of participation where community members are seen as partners and have
control over management and functioning of projects (Arnstein, 1969).
Project sustainability was to be achieved in at least three major ways: handing projects over to the respective
government agencies; training local people capable of performing regular maintenance on projects such as
boreholes and small water system; and lastly getting the community to accept and patronize the facility through
the leaders. These arrangements were not fully effective for a number of reasons. First, most of the facilities were
utilized free-of-charge so there was neither cost recovery nor funds for maintenance. As a result, the company had
to carry the additional burden of financing repairs and maintenance of projects, especially water and sanitation.
This is partly due to unavailability of specific alternative arrangement for maintenance in the plan in case the
transfer of maintenance responsibilities to the government agencies did not work out perfectly. Also, non-
involvement of the ordinary community members in the decision making and implementation processes created a
sense of dependency and paternalism as the company was seen as the ‘provider’ instead of a ‘partner’. This
confirms the idea that community participation is essential in ensuring sustainability of projects (Cook, 1994).
5. Key Success Factors And Implications For Community Development And Csr
With the exception of the ‘partial’ participatory approach the company adopted, the entire idea – processes and
measuring outcomes were purposeful and worthy of learning from. Working mainly through the community
leaders somehow limited the extent to which the community members accepted and owned the projects.
Nonetheless, the community members were able to associate with the projects and could attest to the impacts on
various aspects of their lives.
Notwithstanding this drawback, the projects were largely successful, but what account for the success? In short,
what are the success factors? These are presented below with specific implications for community development
and CSR.
1. The first critical success factor was the ability of the company to link CSR to its corporate strategic existence.
From the onset, the company made sustainable development a “corporate priority” and is striving to integrate
it as a core thrust in its strategic and operational planning processes. As a result, CSR took centre stage in its
approach to sustainable community development. This is because one way of triggering CSR is integrating it
into strategic plans. This implies that corporations can best meet CSR when it is integrated into its corporate
strategic plans since managers often show more commitment to planned expenditures or budgets. Also, as
long as companies are able to make CSR a part of their existence, and that are captured in their plans, local
development authorities can explore the opportunities to harness them for effective community development.
Admittedly, this is a grey area which requires further studies to explore the fuller possibilities.
2. The company also made CSR a duty of top-level management personnel in the organization as well as
personalities of notable organizations. For instance, vice President of Gold Fields West Africa, executive
director of the company, members of parliament, CEO of Chamber of Mines are part of trustees of the Gold
Fields Foundation, the non-governmental organization established purposely for administering CSR in
stakeholder communities. This is significant because the calibre of personalities in charge of CSR can
determine the scale and the extent to which resources would be committed.
It has been observed that in most cases in Africa CSR is considered an auxiliary activity usually attached to a
department such as human resource, marketing or public relations (GTZ, 2009). In the case of Gold Fields,
CSR has been accorded a prominent attention, manned by high profile personnel.
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Impliedly, companies wanting to be committed to CSR should treat it as a distinct department and make it a
responsibility of at least one or two top-level management personnel. Such personnel may have oversight
responsibility for that CSR department and would ensure that adequate financial resources are available for
the operations.
3. Next, the formation and registration of the Gold Fields Foundation as an independent body was
commendable, and it contributed to the extent of revenue mobilization and expenditure on CSR. The
Foundation had a board which governed its activities. Put differently, funds generated by the Foundation
could not be appropriated for any other purpose except those sanctioned by the board in line with the specific
objectives of establishing it. Undoubtedly, this contributed to the scale of CSR activities in the communities.
The implication is that corporations can show commitment to CSR activities in the communities by
establishing a body somewhat autonomous which has the authority to spend on CSR guided by its own board.
Also, it clearly defines the sources of funds for CSR activities. This definitely demonstrates a high
commitment to CSR.
4. It has also been noted that the company, in conjunction with OICI, prepared and implemented a programme
called SEED which included community development plans (CDPs). The plan prepared put all the CSR
activities into perspective. It helped in clearly linking the problems with development needs and goals of
communities. It appears that this influenced the range of CSR interventions covering virtually every sector of
the local economy. Again, although projects such as construction of health centre, etc. demanded huge funds,
they could be phased out within the plan period. This means corporations can plan CSR in such a way that
implementation can be phased out, even if such interventions require large funds. Also, planned CSR
interventions can meet community needs better than ad hoc philanthropic gestures.
5. Lastly, the company sought to ensure sustainability of projects from three angles: continuous monitoring and
evaluation of projects; handing over projects to respective local development authority; and involvement of
community leaders and identified groups such as women, youth, etc. Of these, it appeared that the last two
options did not work out well. As a result, the company continued to support maintenance and management of
these projects. The reason is that, unfortunately, the community members appeared alienated from the
projects. This means that corporations should endeavor to make the community members own the project and
that they must ensure sustainable use of the projects.
6. Conclusion And Recommendations
The study has established that properly instituting corporate social responsibility (CSR), such that it is well
structured with appropriate leadership, planning and well defined sources of funding, can result in considerable
contribution considerably to community development, and by extension, the satisfaction of stakeholders. This
conclusion is amply evident in the processes and outcomes of CSR interventions undertaken by Gold Fields
Ghana Ltd. The company instituted a number of factors which spurred the scale of CSR interventions and
consequently contributing to community development. Among others, the company was able to identify CSR with
its corporate existence thereby capturing it as a strategic goal of the organization. Again, the mandate of ensuring
execution of CSR programmes was assigned to top-level management personnel as well as personalities of
notable organizations. Also, a long-term plan covering five years was prepared with detailed activities and
implementation strategies. This encouraged the execution of projects such as health centres since implementation
had to be on phases. Another crucial factor was the formation and registration of the Gold Fields Foundation as an
independent body with the authority to utilise funds according to the direction of its own board. This occasioned
uninterrupted expenditure on CSR interventions in the stakeholder communities.
Nonetheless, there were some defects with the processes. The strategies of ensuring community participation and
sustainability of projects were less effective partly due to non-involvement of the entire community. It appeared
the company adopted only a ‘partial’ participation where mainly community leaders were involved at various
stages of project execution. Also, facilities such as water and toilet were accessed free-of-charge resulting in lack
of funds for maintenance. This subsequently affected project sustainability since the company appeared more as a
“provider” rather than a “partner”.
Accordingly, it is recommended that the community members should be well integrated into the planning and
implementation phases. Also, adequate and alternative maintenance arrangements should be put in place as part of
the plan to ensure sustainability of the projects.
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Although wealth creation is the core aim of corporations, CSR is increasingly attracting critical attention
particularly due to the impact of business activities on the environment. The scale of CSR investment depends on
a number of factors, including the size of the corporation and the extent to which it is integrated into corporate
plans and strategies. Accordingly, this study contributes to the latter by showing the processes of instituting CSR
into the corporate fabric, and the resultant outcomes. With the appropriate institutional framework as this study
has demonstrated, corporations are more likely to be committed to CSR, allocate substantial funds for it, and
increase the scale of interventions. Similarly, local development authorities could capture the CSR activities into
their medium-term plans to ensure the pursuit of common goal and sustainability of projects.
In sum, this study holds that a well planned and implemented CSR interventions, irrespective of the scale, possess
ample potential in contributing to sustainable community development, and this paper makes insightful means to
this end.

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Tables and Figures

Fig. 1: A map showing study areas

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Table 1: Summary of goals and projects/activities of CDPs

Sector Strategic goals Projects
Economic To increase income and economic Cash crop production (oil palm, cocoa); vegetable
livelihood opportunities 4000 households in 16 production (bio-intensive gardening); animal
primary stakeholder communities. production (poultry, fish, snail, beekeeping), etc.
Enterprise Oil palm processing; cassava processing; soap
development making; Provision of micro-credit using group
lending.
Health To improve the health status 30,000 Construction/upgrading of clinics/health posts;
people living in the 16 primary provision of first aid kits at communities; health
stakeholder target communities. education, etc.
Water and Construction of boreholes, small water supply
sanitation systems; formation of water and sanitation
committees;
Education To improve the level of education and Construction of appropriate housing for teachers;
livelihood skills of 5000 youth and adults construction of classroom blocks; provision of
in the 16 primary stakeholder scholarships; non-formal education; etc.
communities.
Sustainability To increase the Sustainability of the CDP Sustainability monitoring and evaluation;
of CDPs interventions for long-term results and collaboration with Regional Administration,
impact and to increase the GFG’s social District Assembly, Ministries, local and
license to operate in the district. international NGOs, etc.
Table 2: Expenditure on community development projects
Tarkwa mine Damang mine Total
Sector Exp.* % Exp. % Exp. %
GH¢’000 GH¢’000 GH¢’000
Economic Livelihood Prog. 2 971 19.8 952 6.3 3 923 26.1
Education 2 942 19.6 1 688 11.2 4 630 30.8
Health 689 4.6 483 3.2 1 172 7.8
Water & Sanitation 1 890 12.6 397 2.6 2 287 15.2
Social infrastructure 676 4.5 136 0.9 812 5.4
Road 1 770 11.8 431 2.9 2 201 14.7
Total 10 938 72.9 4 087 27.1 15 025 100
*To the nearest thousands Exchange rate: Gh¢1 = US$1.98
Table 3: Impacts of Educational Infrastructure
Indicator % of Respondents Reporting (Before) % of Respondents Reporting (After)
Very Very Very Very
good Good Bad bad Total good Good Bad bad Total
Classroom 1.0 25.0 64.5 9.5 100 34.6 56.5 1.5 7.4 100
condition
Teacher 1.1 35.6 55.5 7.8 100 25.2 66.5 7.9 0.4 100
numbers
Enrolment 1.1 32.0 59.3 7.6 100 32.7 53.8 12.2 1.3 100
Performance 1.8 34.1 57.3 6.8 100 32.2 64.8 2.7 0.3 100
Attraction 1.0 30.4 60.5 8.1 100 31.7 65.3 3.0 0.0 100
Number of respondents: 884

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