Senate Report on Corrupt Officials Leads to Renewed Calls for Energy Security Bill

A report released last week by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations exposed how foreign officials from major U.S. oil suppliers are involved in oil profiteering schemes in Africa, channeling millions of dollars in natural resource wealth to U.S. bank accounts. The report recommends closing loopholes in anti-money laundering measures to prevent corrupt officials from diverting funds to the U.S. The news led transparency advocates to renew calls for passing the "Energy Security Through Transparency Act," a U.S. bill that would help combat corruption in oil and mineral-rich countries at the source. Read more ...

Announcing the New Revenue Watch Resource Center!

RWI is excited to announce the launch of its online Resource Center, an interactive database of hundreds of research, training and policy documents on the management of natural resource wealth. Now civil society members, researchers and policy-makers who do not want to "reinvent the wheel" can access the lessons and wisdom from across the global transparency movement in one location. Read more and visit the Resource Center ...

A New Era of Tax Transparency?

The OECD Global Forum meeting on tax and development this week reflected a sea-change in global thinking about the connections between taxes, transparency and development. Not only is improving tax transparency and collection now discussed as core to sustainable development, but governments, companies and civil society are working on how best to achieve it. RWI Director of Training and Capacity Building Vanessa Herringshaw blogs about the prospects for new tax transparency and the OECD's new commitments in this area. Read more ...

"Knowledge is Power": Empowering Civil Society to Make the Most of the EITI in Tanzania

As Tanzania works toward EITI validation, local members of civil society, the media and a parliamentary representative gathered last week in Dar es Salaam for a series of EITI training and strategy sessions organized by RWI. The sessions, which particularly focused on civil society representatives on the EITI Multi-Stakeholder group, highlighted the leading role that civil society is playing in informing the transparency movement in Tanzania. RWI's Matteo Pellegrini reports on how the trainings have enhanced the knowledge of Tanzania's oversight bodies to play a key, proactive role in the EITI. Read more ...

VIDEO: Follow the Money

A new two-minute video from Oxfam America demonstrates the global consequences of your everyday gas purchases: where the money goes, and why citizens in oil-producing nations often don't see the profits when U.S. gas prices soar. This animated video is helping the Publish What You Pay-U.S. coalition, which includes Revenue Watch, Oxfam America, and many other partners, as we spread the word about the U.S. Energy Security Through Transparency Act. Read more ...

ANÁLISIS QUINCENAL: Transparency and Extractives Update from Latin America | Español

Revenue Watch Commends Norway for Landmark Move in Transparency Reporting

In Historic Step, Iraq to Join Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

AUDIO: BBC Radio on "Why Resource Rich Countries Often Stay Poor"

Football Attack Highlights Risk of Conflict in Oil-Rich Angolan Province