Paper short abstract:

We will investigate the contribution of oil production to development in Angola through the lense of the CSR policies of the companies, focusing on public health programs. We will explore how they shape public health and how the travel of staff between NGO and CSR programs challenges its notion.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, we will investigate the contribution of oil production to development through the lense of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies of the companies. Indeed, research on oil and development focuses generally on the impact on local communities, on "recourse curse" and on the use of philantropic projects to buy social peace. Few have been investigated on the adaptation of non-governmental organizations (NGO) to the business world and vice-versa, and CSR programs have not been investigated as such, especially regarding their inputs on development practices and policies. We will focus on Angola, one of the biggest oil producers in Africa and nevertheless a country where the population still suffers from poverty, and on public health programs. Angola is recovering from more than thirty years of war. Nevertheless, the development NGO never seized the reconstruction market constituted by the rebuilding of infrastructures and of capacities. Indeed, the CSR departments have the leadership on it through their projects and the funding of local NGO. Consequences of it can be drawn on different aspects. Development projects are shaped differently as well as beneficiaries groups. Some aspects of public health are privilegied when some others are left aside. One of our research axis will be the travelling of staff between NGO and CSR departments and thus of work habitus that influence the recomposition of public health.

This paper rests upon extensive field work pursued since 2008 in Angola and relies on examples from Luanda, Huíla and Cunene provinces.