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Paper short abstract:

To ensure that Uganda can harness its new oil wealth for sustainable development, CSR activities by multinational oil companies are encouraged to ensure that project benefits are shared with communities. This paper explores the extent to which activities shaped by local needs and demands.

Paper long abstract:

There is increasing pressure on international oil and mining companies from host governments and local communities to ensure that benefits from extractives projects are shared. To ensure that Uganda can harness its newly discovered oil wealth for sustainable development and poverty reduction, an agenda of 'good resource governance' is being promoted by donor governments, international institutions and civil society organisations, and an agenda of 'national content' is being promoted by the Ugandan government. Within these agendas CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities carried out by multinational oil companies are encouraged to ensure that project benefits are shared with communities, including jobs, infrastructure and community development. This paper explores the CSR activities of two multinational oil companies operating at the subnational level in Uganda; UK / Irish Tullow Oil and China's CNOOC and asks to what extent are the activities shaped by local needs and demands. Findings concur with other critical studies of CSR in extractives which find that CSR is unable to play a substantial role in promoting long-term and equitable social development. Whilst there is evidence in Uganda to suggest that corporate activities and projects can be influenced by local pressures, findings reinforce that CSR projects have a technical focus and the benefits to communities often are short term and contingent. The idea of corporate responsibility needs to shift towards the obligations of companies and relations of accountability between society, state and private actors to ensure that local people can benefit from oil development.