Investigating Factors Affecting the Sustainability of Corporate Funded Community Based Projects: The Case of Mopani Copper Mine-Mufulira (Kankoyo)

Abstract

This study was undertaken in order to investigate factors affecting the sustainability of CSR funded community based projects as well as examine their implementation challenges. A questionnaire as a source of primary data was administered to 96 respondents in Kankoyo. The findings revealed that the majority of the projects were not sustainable. This may be attributed to lack of Mopani establishing roles for community members in the projects as well as monitoring them. There was also lack of regular communication between Mopani and the Community. The management of both Mopani and Community changes in membership was also not there. Lastly, Mopani didn’t consider the community as a key partner in their CSR projects. This could have been due to the community’s inability to contribute (labour, material or money) towards the projects. Overall, there was no partnership between Mopani and the Kankoyo Community in CSR community based projects. The resultant effects were lack of partnership with the community and mismanagement of the facilities by the community which resulted in the un-sustainability of projects. Hence, the study established that a well partnered stakeholder approach was appropriate for the sustainability of the projects with suitable roles, communication and management of any changes. All in all, there was a challenge of lack of full partnership by other stakeholders (Kankoyo Breweries, CEC, Council, Government etc.) which affected the sustainability of the Mopani based community projects. Based on the findings, some recommendations are made which include Mopani partnering with not only the kankoyo community but also with other stakeholders too.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, Projects, Partnership, Community.