The study explores the Corporate Social Responsibility of Tullow Oil in the Western Region of Ghana. The objective is to understand the motivations that drive Tullow Oil to engage in CSR and assess the impact of development projects being undertaken in the Western Region by the company. This work also assesses what policies or strategies there are to mitigate the effects of the oil production activities of the company on the environment and ensuring the health and safety of its employees. Tullow Oil embraces the concept of corporate responsibility and engages in it with the aim of Creating Shared Prosperity to bring development to its host country. There is therefore a strong commitment from the company to ensure that communities benefit from the oil resource by carrying out long-term sustainable development projects which address real needs focusing on education, health, water and sanitation and business development. However, it is only through the institutionalisation of a framework for regulating CSR practice in Ghana that the gains from CSR can be fully realized.

Christopher Sackeyfio is a development planner and holds an M.Sc. in International Development from the University of Bristol, UK and a B.Sc. in Development Planning from KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana. He is a senior consultant at MAPLE Consult with particular interests in decentralised development planning, local governance and water and sanitation.