Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is all about the mechanisms through which business demonstrates its commitment to, and complies with global ethical standards. Implementing CSR effectively can provide businesses with its all-important social licence to operate; without CSR, a company may possess all the relevant legal documentation, but is likely to lack a social licence. And without a social licence for a business to operate, particularly in transition and post-conflict societies, renewed tension and conflict, plus worse-than-optimal performance for the business in question, is all too likely.

TI provides expert knowledge and assistance in the field of Political Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility in the following core areas:

Training

• Training on CSR for companies
• Training on CSR for development organisations
• Training on the role of economic actors in peacebuilding.

Advisory Services

• Advising companies in the design and implementation of CSR
• Advising development organisations on how to use political economy analysis in programming
• Natural resource governance in development programming
• Advising companies and development organisations on the political economy and conflict contexts in which they are operating.

Knowledge Development and Research

• Political economy assessments
• CSR best practice mapping
• Country-specific business culture studies
• Analyses of potential of CSR in selected sectors
• Natural Resource Management (NRM) opportunity mapping.

The CSR and Private Sector Development Desk is coordinated by Irma Specht