Optimising community development through corporate social responsibility : an examination of the tourism industry in Livingstone, Zambia : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Development Studies at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

This thesis explores the potential for corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of hotel and lodge companies to contribute to community development. A critical review of relevant literature is followed by focused discussions of the CSR practices of these companies, their community engagement approaches for seeking community voices in CSR, and policy frameworks for promoting CSR and managing stakeholder relationships. The empirical domain is the practices of hotel and lodge companies on Mukuni community land in Livingstone, Zambia. The discussion in each of the main empirical chapters is based on the analysis of perspectives and experiences of participants. Primary data was collected by conducting document and website reviews, and interviews with senior government officials, hotel and lodge managers, the local tourism association, leaders of relevant local and international NGOs, and leaders from Mukuni communities. Data was also collected through group interviews, network mapping, and pairwise ranking and comparison analyses with community farmers and crafts traders. Site observation of some CSR projects in communities was also undertaken. Thematic analysis was applied to code and analyse data. A theoretical framework focusing on “ensuring equity in CSR through multi-stakeholder measures” was developed and applied to understand the findings. Study findings suggest that power relations are a critical issue in CSR when initiatives are carried out in poor communities. It is shown that dominant corporate power and traditional power and cultural influences of community leaders, coupled with weak policy frameworks for promoting CSR and managing stakeholder interactions, are the main factors that determine the effectiveness of CSR as a vehicle for community development. These findings show that although criticisms are justifiably targeted mainly at corporations, communities and government also fall short in a number of ways as parties in promoting CSR. In view of these findings, key stakeholders, including government, hotels and lodges and communities, are challenged to adapt their respective policies, structures, mentalities and practices to ensure equity in CSR. The study has shown that multi-stakeholder involvement in CSR can encourage equity and might be helpful in shifting CSR from reflecting company interests alone to interests and needs of communities. This argument is based on evidence that in some cases, measures that seek to encourage multi-stakeholder involvement in CSR have proved to contribute to promoting equity and to widely spreading opportunities and benefits. It has also been shown that the role of government and other stakeholders is important for improving the overall effectiveness of CSR as a vehicle for community development

Community Development through Corporate Social Responsibility in Livingston, Zambia: Are Hotels Actually Changing Business Practices?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) presents unique prospects for both local development and valuable business returns for tourism companies. However, optimization of CSR-generated development impacts may largely depend on the willingness of companies to change their corporate practices more. This paper explores CSR practices of hotels and lodges in Livingstone, Zambia, and associated community development impacts of activities they implement in the surrounding Mukuni communities. Findings from research amongst eight hotel and lodge companies, show that where the voluntary process of change of CSR practices was accompanied by multi-stakeholder involvement, which tended to ameliorate adverse power relations, substantial community development benefits were widely captured by communities from CSR initiatives. These findings suggest that in situations where companies willingly incorporate pro-poor approaches in their business practices, multi-stakeholder involvement in CSR might be a plausible approach for ensuring equity and for augmenting the CSR community development impacts

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century