Community Reaction to Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Multinational companies in Zimbabwe initiate and finance community projects through private partnership but the active involvement of beneficiaries in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes projects so that the felt needs of local communities are met has been queried. The study sought to analyse school capacity programme (SCP) being implemented by Delta Corporation in Macheke, Zimbabwe as a corporate social responsibility programmes and interrogated community participation in such projects. The qualitative methodology was utilised with focus group discussions and key informants interview being used as data collection tools. The availability and purposive sampling was employed to identify the study participants. It was revealed that Delta Corporation crafts its CSR policies at national level aiming at addressing poverty at community level. The study, however, revealed that community participation in CSR projects was obscure and the community leadership only played a passive role at project execution stage. The study recommended that government should be active in spearheading CSR initiatives through legislation to ensure that corporate social responsibility becomes an obligation for corporation instead of charity.

Key Words: Corporate Social Responsibility, Delta Corporation, school capacity programme, Zimbabwe