Trialogue conducts annual research into CSI spend on each development sector in South Africa. In 2023, 68 large companies participated in Trialogue’s primary research survey. According to the research, disaster relief was supported by 62% of companies and received 6% of average CSI expenditure in 2023.
National context of disaster relief in South Africa
- The National Disaster Management Centre, within the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, was allocated R932 million for emergency disaster relief in 2023/24, an increase from R652 million in 2022/23.
- According to the Global Centre on Adaptation, approximately 52 million people in Africa (around 4% of the African population) were impacted by drought or floods between January 2021 and September 2022.
- In 2023, deadly floods claimed lives in many sub-Saharan African countries including South Africa, Angola, Burundi, the DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
- In South Africa in February 2023, the government declared a national state of disaster to coordinate a response to the impact of floods affecting seven of the nine South African provinces. Twelve people died due to the floods.
- The deadliest tropical cyclone in 2023, Cyclone Freddy, resulted in the deaths of more than 1 400 people in Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius and Zimbabwe, with more than 1.4 million people affected.
- The Early Warnings for All initiative (EW4All) was launched at the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh in November 2022. The initiative aims to ensure that every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within five years, with the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction leading this effort. Thirteen African countries (not including South Africa) were among the first countries to receive coordinated and targeted support.
Overview of CSI spend
Disaster relief was supported by 62% of companies and received 6% of average CSI expenditure.

Type of intervention
Average % CSI disaster relief spend 2023 n=40
64% Emergency response
16% Rebuilding of disaster affected communities
9% Pandemic (Covid-19)
6% Preventative efforts
5% Other
- Most disaster relief spend (64%) was allocated to emergency response in 2023, albeit a slight reduction from 70% in 2022.
- Rebuilding of disaster-affected communities received a higher portion of disaster relief spend, increasing from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2023.
- Spend on preventative efforts decreased from 15% of disaster relief spend in 2022 to 6% in 2023.
Read more about disaster relief:
- Read the case study Pandemic preparedness in Africa – what have we learnt?
- Read the 2022 research findings: Overview of CSI spend on disaster relief 2022.
Source: The original version of this article was published in the Trialogue Business in Society Handbook 2023 (26th edition).