Poverty reduction through corporate social responsibility: case study of Peruvian rural families

Abstract

Poverty remains one of this millennium’s main problems, which why the first objective of sustainable development is poverty reduction. Multiple actors are working on this issue: states, multilateral organisms, civil societies, and—perhaps less boldly—the private sector, through social responsibility programs. In this research, the aim was to understand how rural families perceive the contribution of CSR programs, in respect to the decrease in rural poverty. A total of 20 rural families, who were beneficiaries from CSR programs belonging to two extractive companies, were interviewed; furthermore, they were no longer poor and were currently dwelling within the highlands and jungles of Perú. The results show that the CSR strategies used by the companies directly and indirectly contribute toward a reduction in rural poverty, and particularly those more specifically related to capacity development, access to markets, and strategic philanthropy. In this study, it was also found that families mostly use the strategy of informal entrepreneurship, which is not directly linked to the companies’ actions; as such, this could serve as a basis for the future implementation of CSR actions.