The impact of corporate social responsibility by the oil and gas companies on the community: a case of Statoil in Tanzania.

The study centered on the assessment of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility by the oil and gas companies on the Community, with reference to Statoil in Tanzania. This study was undertaken specifically owing to the fact that the oil and gas industry is still in its infancy, and hence there is not a lot that has so been written about in relation to its trickled-down effects on CSR. The study was premised on four specific objectives which aimed to examine Statoil’s CSR the approach in Mtwara region, the involvement of the community in the design and implementation of CSR, the impact of Statoil’s CSR impact on people’s livelihood, and the associated with the implementation of CSR by Statoil Tanzania. The study was executed using qualitative approach in which interviews and documentary sources were the main data collection techniques employed. Study found that oil and gas companies conduct different CSR activities in the community where they operate with greater focus on education, health, and transport infrastructure and career development. Study found that the major driver for CSR activities in oil and gas companies in Tanzania is legitimacy. Also CSR activities were found to be useful to the company in different ways including seeking legitimacy in the community but also useful to the community in term of employment opportunities, good education, good health services, good infrastructures and other benefits as discussed in chapter three. In addition, this study found that CSR is a circle in which the activities benefit the communities but al end will contribute toward company performance. As for the government, there is need to put a strong law about CSR and also educate government workers about issues of CSR.