This thesis addresses a paradox: tourism was introduced in the towns of Elmina and Cape Coast (Ghana, Africa) more than 15 years ago, as a tool for economic development, poverty reduction and preservation of three World Heritage Sites - the Elmina or St Georges' Castle, Fort St Jago (Elmina), and the Cape Coast or Carolsburg Castle (Cape Coast). These sites were created by foreign conquerors during the 400 year transatlantic slave trade. However, benefits are distributed unequally and the sites are not properly preserved. This investigation attempts to understand the relationship between the local community, tourism intermediaries, and national and external state development institutions in order to identify approaches to tourism in the area, and any elements that might inhibit its development. Even though several studies (Sirakaya et al. 2002; Teye et al. 2002) have been carried out regarding the attitudes and perceptions of the residents towards tourism, none of them identifies the controlling interests in the projects and their relationships with various community constituents at the mainly grass-roots level. Furthermore, although there are recommendations for sustainable tourism, no study clearly defines those aspects of the sites which determine whether they can compete in the global market. Finally, the analysis is partly carried out by applying the theories of [Corporate (Social Responsibility)] [C (SR)]I in order to explain the phenomena of tourism development at the designated locales. So far no other research has been undertaken using these theories to explain the phenomena. This thesis contributes to knowledge in three ways: 1) a new clear cut definition of Capacity Building (CB) based on the employment of four notions of Capital: Social, Human, Physical and Financial; 2) a relation which clearly illustrates the interdependency between sustainability and poverty reduction (PR), which in turn depends on the exercise of [C (SR)] and CB; and 3) a new research method, approach namely Rapid Situation Analysis (RSA).