Nowhere in particular is the impact of CSR much more felt than the mining sector in Ghana.

Without
effective environmental controls, developing countries like Ghana risked suffering serious, irreversible
environmental harm from large-scale mining projects.

We find that, in Ghana, the debate is not about whether CSR is developmental or not but rather what
strategies and policies can help increase CSR efficiency. Findings suggest that CSR accounts for several
visible infrastructure in mining communities. However, there is a major flaw in empowering community
members and improving their livelihoods.

In most developing countries, mining companies have continually been criticised and accused of acting
socially and environmentally irresponsible. Thus, as a strategy to offset these criticisms, the mining
industry has developed CSR initiatives as part of their business strategies, with the aim of building a
more friendly relationship with the societies in which they operate. As a result, CSR is a major tool that
gives the mining industry the social license to operate. CSR programmes of mining companies tend to
focus on community initiatives with much concentration on interventions in the areas of education and
health amongst other things. Evaluating the success of CSR programmes can be difficult. Thus, most
firms rely on a few indicators in order to note their success. For instance, for most firms, the absence of
tension between the firm and the community and the absence of dispute and litigations are considered
indicators of CSR success. While for the community, the presence of some visible infrastructure usually
is enough.

In Ghana, there are no comprehensive CSR policies or laws. However, there are a variety of policies,
laws, practices and initiatives that together provide a viable framework for CSR initiatives to be
implemented. At the moment, the government responds to CSR issues by mandating and facilitating
CSR-friendly practices.

The Chamber of Mines has adopted a policy where member companies set aside a minimum of US$1
out of every earning per ounce of Gold and also one percent (1%) of the their net profit to develop their
communities.

Mining companies in Ghana also voluntarily undertake community sustainable development projects in
their catchment areas. In 2012 alone, mining companies committed US$26 million to community
sustainable development projects various communities.

To these mining companies, sustainability is significant when it comes to CSR initiatives. That is why
most of their projects are in the long term. Chirano Gold Mine recently launched a US$ 5.5 million four
year malaria control programme to help bring down the disease in its operational area. The malaria
control programme covered 13 communities in the catchment area of Chirano Gold mine.

The Ghana Manganese companies Ltd also contributed US$200,000 to the University of Mines at Tarkwa
(UMaT) to establish hostels. They also transmitted electricity to the Tarkwa-Benso Community and again
renovated feeder roads for the people of Akyempim community.

As part of their CSR policy, Sandvic mining has spent US$590,000 for training of technicians at the UMaT
and also spent a little over US$62,000 between 2009 and 2011 to renovate the dormitory block of the
Tarkwa Midwifery Training School.
Newmont Ghana in the first quarter of 2013 has distributed 1,250 solar lamps at the cost of US$ 25,000
to basic school children living around their water storage facility and resettlement communities in the
Asutifi North District of Brong Ahafo. Newmont has also constructed a two-unit nurses' quarters to the
people of Yawusukrom at a tune of GH? 55,000 as part of giving back to society.

Gold Fields Ghana has also constructed bore holes in communities that fall under its catchment area.
This has improved the lives of the inhabitants as they now have access to portable water. To date, Gold
fields Ghana has invested US$20 million on various development projects in its host communities.

On the part of Golden Star Resources, their community development projects include the Golden Star
Oil Palm Plantation (GOSPP) foundation that seeks to promote oil palm plantation within their
catchment areas. To Golden Star, agri-businesses could be used in reducing poverty and creating wealth.
The GOSPP now operates with over 200 small-holder farmers and 242 part time contract workers. The
projects that have been named are just part of other numerous initiatives that these mining companies
have untaken in their host communities.

For both mining companies, CSR projects span across a wide and diverse spectrum of activities within
the communities. This is so because mining firms are highly esteemed and expected to act as key
sponsors at almost every programme and project within the regions of their operations. A critical look at
the projects shows that even though it has undertaken numerous projects, mainly due to the longevity
of their mining operations, most of these projects consisted of infrastructural development in the
communities with very little focus on economic empowerment of the people. Thus, although
communities have benefited from CSR projects, the focus of most projects did not seem to have been on
crucial issues like livelihood improvement. Even with the existence of schools and hospitals, some of
which were established based on CSR funds; patronage to these institutions is still low. This suggests
that livelihoods have not been improved sufficiently to make individual take advantage of, and pay for,
their health and education.

In this regard, it could be said that companies focus on the most cost effective and least time consuming
projects to them. Thus, we note that most CSR projects focus largely on infrastructural development and
not on more resource demanding projects that may improve upon livelihoods. This does not in any way
suggest that the provision of crucial infrastructure in communities does not contribute significantly to
economic development. Our argument suggests that beyond infrastructural development, which
appears to be the core of most CSR projects, economic empowerment should be a priority as well, since
it would in the long-run, aid in livelihood improvement. One explanation offered by the mining
companies which explains why much focus is put on infrastructure development is that individuals
prefer to indulge in illegal mining rather than livelihood projects started by CSR initiatives. This is
because illegal mining has been identified to generate more money in a relatively shorter period of time.
Thus, in the end individuals appear to be uninterested in livelihood improvement projects that CSR
initiative funds.