Project:

Socially Responsible Management among Canadian Extractive Sector Companies in Africa:  Building Canadian Capacity and Mitigating Poverty

Country/Region:

Africa

Contact:

Graham Willis

gwillis(at)resourceconflict.org

Executive Summary:

In May of 2005, members of the CCSRC visited the mining operation of a Canadian company in Uganda, finding that the company had a significant and distinctly positive impact on the community. Located in an area of high economic vulnerability, the mine was mitigating poverty, improving food security and increasing access to healthcare and education. 

This project will examine how a corporate culture of socially responsible management, including community consultation, human rights standards and best practises, makes foreign direct investment highly beneficial for local communities and corporations.  

A series of field research case studies will be undertaken in different regions of Africa, focusing on the interaction between Canadian extractive sector companies in highly vulnerable and subsistence communities.

The research findings will be widely distributed to partners in industry, the socially responsible investment sector, to Canadian business associations and to international development organizations.

Objectives:

• To promote socially responsible management as a viable and sustainable measure to ensure that Canadian companies and investors are not complicit in community-based conflict;
• To explore how a culture of socially responsible management is a tool for positive change that could be supported and fostered by government bodies;
• To determine to what degree socially responsible management can mitigate extreme poverty, improve food security and catalyze local economic and social development in at-risk populations;
• To promote the responsible management of Canadian companies, and their positive effects on local communities, within industry as models of effective management and nodes of positive change.