Partnering with organisations to tackle socioeconomic challenges has enabled many companies to develop approaches to ensure long-term results for their CSI initiatives, especially in recessionary times when companies are demanding a "bigger bang for their buck".

Standard Bank increasingly sees CSI as a tool for building capacity in its markets.

"While donations and charitable work by business are vital to many communities and organisations ... we are at risk of devoting ever-increasing amounts to providing temporary relief to conditions that require a much more in-depth approach," said Dr Nomsa Masuku, head of CSI for Standard Bank.

Khanyisa Balfour, Engen Petroleum Manager (CSI), said the government alone couldn't shoulder the developmental burden of a state still in need of fundamental transformation - hence the concept of public-private partnerships.

The government, arguably, is best placed to provide direction, funding and guidance, while leaving the nuts and bolts of projects to other entities closer to the ground, Balfour said.

Companies, on the other hand, have the skills, expertise, and the financial and human capital to support social development programmes that fit naturally in their business strategy.

And NGOs are natural implementing partners, possessing project experience, local knowledge and legitimacy.

Masuku said the bank accepted that communities' health and education challenges militated against meaningful socioeconomic development. "For this reason, in every community in which Standard Bank invests, much attention is channelled towards these two areas.

"The sustainability of social investment rests, first, on genuine ownership and involvement by the intended beneficiaries. Second, long-term sustainability is determined more often than not by factors not directly connected to a particular initiative."

Masuku said getting beneficiaries involved to the extent that they took responsibility for the long-term success of a programme took time.

"For business, this engagement process requires deep involvement in talking repeatedly to the intended beneficiaries.

She said the influence of extraneous factors was confirmed during a bank study involving more than 100 schools across the country, commissioned ahead of the bank's involvement in government's Dinaledi Schools programme which aims to boost the number of pupils competent in mathematics and science.

"We initially expected that we would have to work on teacher development and curriculum support within the Dinaledi Schools programme. What we found was a host of issues hampering effective learning that had nothing to do with maths and science. The issues that ranked highest in the study are security (inside and outside the schools), counselling services for pupils, teachers and caregivers and access to food."

Masuku said establishing and helping to solve the challenges specific to each school was a lengthy process but necessary to achieve sustained success and to contribute to the long-term needs of business.

"In the field of entrepreneur development, for example, there is an abundance of seed capital, finance on favourable terms, subsidies, education and training, coaching, mentoring, consulting and competitions. Tangible and sustainable results, however, have yet to reflect the level of support available."