This is counted by many people as CSR; however these efforts may not be sustainable.

Now that companies are starting to think about how to help the communities within which they work they need to ensure that help is sustainable: that they help to build communities which are self reliant, not reliant upon their largesse.

As Ida commented when I was interviewing her, one of the negative effects of CSR in Africa is that it can make some people lazy. This is the next hurdle multinational companies need to overcome.

Best wishes

Chris.

This is what some people/companies in Africa believe to be CSR:

Company A wants to gain some media publicity (well, in a handful of cases there is actually a genuine desire to give back).
Company A sends staff to find out the needs of a target community (usually a community where they have either personal or political ties).
Company A purchases needed items and shows up in the paper with a nice picture (plus or minus an article/story) showing donated items to targeted community.
Target community is satisfied and waits for the next company to provide other needed items.

What do you call that?