Is Corporate Social Responsibility an Effective Intervention for Sustainable Development? The Case of Canadian Mining Companies in Burkina Faso

Quite a number of Canadian mining companies claim that their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts can contribute to sustainable development (SD). However, several studies suggest that CSR initiatives in Africa are yet to make a significant, long-lasting socio-economic contribution. This research focuses on six Canadian mining companies operating in Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa that has recently become a hotspot for gold extraction. By employing a qualitative content analysis method to analyze companies’ archives and other textual sources available within the public domain, through the theoretical lens of economic democracy, this study interrogates whether the current neoliberal CSR framework is an effective intervention to address Burkina Faso’s socio-economic challenges. The findings from this research reveal the contradictions between stated CSR intentions and the mining companies’ priorities, thus making noteworthy contributions to literature that investigates CSR and sustainable development in Africa’s natural resource sector.M.A