Corporate Social Responsibility in Zambia

This chapter critically examines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Zambia and argues that it has been unnecessarily heavily skewed, for decades, towards the mining sector. Although laudable, this approach is narrow and has militated against a comprehensive approach to CSR in the country. In arguing its case, the discussion looks at the state of CSR in the country, especially after the fall of the one-party state system in 1991. The chapter then locates CSR in the notion of engaged citizenship and argues for a broad-based CSR perspective that could incorporate other sectors of the economy. It is argued in the chapter that local entrepreneurs should be included in the proposed broad-based CSR. For this category of CSR, which puts local firms and entrepreneurs at the centre of innovations that raise the quality of life of the citizens, the chapter specifically looks at how the work of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) could be leveraged by the State to drive a broad-based CSR agenda in Zambia that is also underpinned by nationalistic imperatives. Furthermore, the chapter also observes that foreign investors and companies operating in Zambia should be included in this new CSR thrust.