Monitoring and evaluation of corporate social responsibility programmes in South Africa

Abstract

The South African corporate sector invests millions to support community development and social programs. One of the more fundamental issues about sustainability in a business context is the fact that directors have a fiduciary duty to take into account interests of those stakeholders other than investors/shareholders. This therefore places major importance on sustainability reporting through reports on governance, economic, social and environmental performance and is increasingly being regarded as a key form of stakeholder engagement, and the most accepted formal way of communicating measured outcomes to all stakeholders. A number of methodologies may exist for the development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies or “how-to guides” for community engagement and investment, however, it lacks development in the field of CSR Programme Evaluation. Integrated approaches to the measurement thereof are still in expanding stages of development and statistical data and/or empirical evidence is lacking at this point. Trust and relationships take time to build but are valuable assets, therefore a company must show it has listened and acted in response to stakeholder concerns, this means that ongoing communication and reporting back to stakeholders is a very important component in any engagement strategy. It is therefore important for the corporate sector to not only evaluate the effectiveness of their CSR Programmes, but also to measure the impact on both their beneficiary communities and their business and subsequently on the Return on Investment (ROI). This paper will highlight a case of the South African corporate sectors attempts to evaluate its effectiveness and impact on beneficiary communities and how they quantify the impact of the investment through successful CSR interventions.