Corporate social responsibility, community participation and development in mining sector of North-Western Tanzania.

Abstract

The study on which this thesis is based investigated the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR), community participation and development in the mining sector of North-western Tanzania and focused on Geita Gold Mine (GGM) in Geita District. The study employed the pragmatic approach, supported by the mixed-methods approach. The sources of data collected for this study were divided into primary and secondary sources. The primary sources include focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and a semi-structured questionnaire. Ten focus group discussions were conducted in the five selected wards of Mtakuja, Mgusu, Kalangalala and Bombambili of Geita Town Council and Nyamwilolelwa of Geita District Council. A total of 200 questionnaire copies were distributed to the respondents from the five selected wards. Moreover, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with different groups that included GGM officials, civil society, academics and Government officials in both the central and local Government. The study was informed by the utilitarian, managerial, relational, classical and stakeholder theories developed in Western countries and related to the Tanzanian context to ascertain the differences that prevail in the various social and cultural settings. The study findings revealed that GGM’s contribution to development and poverty reduction is insignificant, and that very few CSR projects had made a significant impact on the Geita community. The findings of the study further revealed that most participants were not impressed by the involvement of GGM in development or community-based projects, as GGM’s intervention in several CSR projects in Geita District, and the impact of its contribution was minimal. It was also found that very few CSR projects had a positive impact on the community. Overall, the study concluded that the company implements most of the CSR projects without fully involving the Government (respective councils). Therefore, a gulf exists between GGM and the Government. Thus, to improve CSR practice in Tanzania, the study proposes several measures to address existing weaknesses, including involvement of stakeholders, existence of transparency and accountability and ensuring that Multinational Corporations (MNCs) execute CSR according to the stipulated laws and policies. In theorizing, this study makes a number of hypotheses. It posits that CSR follows five perspectives, namely, organizational perspective, political perspective, value perspective, community perspective and the social perspective. For instance, the Organizational perspective says that for CSR to work, the organization to undertake CSR must have the capacity, resources, structures and systems that support CSR. These are some of key contributions to knowledge.