On February 2, the Revenue Watch Institute launched its new online Resource Center: an interactive database of research, training and policy documents and videos concerning transparency and the management of natural resource wealth. This tool, which compiles a comprehensive selection of research materials from around the world in multiple languages, represents a cross-section of expertise, analysis and good practice.
The inspiration for the Center, available at http://resources.revenuewatch.org, came from frustration that each new country broaching the issue of translating their natural resource wealth into development for the common good had to "reinvent the wheel." The Resource Center instead offers a wide-ranging collection of materials that distill lessons and wisdom on responsible revenue management, maximization of natural resource wealth and transparent and accountable governance. The result is a flexible system that allows transparency activists, civil society, government officials, legislators, journalists, students and extractive industry representatives to access hundreds of documents on the management of natural resource wealth and benefit from the experience of their peers and other experts around the world.
RWI Deputy Director Suneeta Kaimal described how the Resource Center compiles and organizes existing and emerging knowledge. "Revenue Watch sits at the center of a diverse network of scholars, experts and practitioners," said Kaimal, "and a core part of our mission is to help that network share knowledge and collaborate to advance the transparency and accountability agenda."
The Resource Center already contains more than 500 resources and is continually expanding, offering users a far more efficient means to compare and share extractive laws, academic findings and advocacy strategies. Furthermore, users of the Resource Center can refer to analytical "backgrounders" from Revenue Watch, which provide introductions to foundational transparency and extractive concepts.
The growing array of Resource Center materials includes:
Begin browsing now:
Rebecca Iwerks, Program Officer for Training and Capacity Building, and Internet Director Jed Miller led the development of the Resource Center. Describing the vision for this system, Iwerks said, "The Resource Center provides information to serve the needs of our partners in the transparency movement. For example, if you’re a civil society member in Tanzania working on EITI and you know that the next step for your country is going to be creating EITI reporting templates, then you come on to the Resource Center. By searching for EITI templates, you find examples from different countries. If you have questions about the templates, your can explore the Resource Center's 'backgrounders' on EITI which provide an overview of the key issues, and a selection of relevant publications like RWI's 2008 publication Drilling Down: The Civil Society Guide to Extractive Industry Revenues and the EITI."
During 2010, RWI will be adding additional materials for French speakers and filling in its robust collection of Spanish-language resources.
We need your help to maximize the effectiveness of this tool. Please browse the Resource Center, share resources with your colleagues and send us your feedback, suggestions for materials and ideas for topic areas that should be added or developed further.
Contact us any time at resourcecenter@revenuewatch.org.
To get started, please visit http://resources.revenuewatch.org, or click on Resource Center under "Our Work" at the top of the Revenue Watch web site.
