OUR WORK / PROJECTS

Small Grant Facilities: World Bank and Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In 2006 and 2007, with the generous financial support of the World Bank and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, RWI administered two small grant facilities to enhance the capacity of civil society organizations and coalitions seeking to participate in EITI. The goal was not only to assess the baseline factors that enable civil society groups to fulfill their contribution to EITI, but also to develop criteria by which outside actors can identify, select and gauge civil society's ability to partake in the implementation of global fiscal reforms across sectors.

RWI has supported the following initiatives over the course of these projects:

  • Monitoring, advocacy and capacity-building of civil society coalitions in Cameroon, Ghana, DRC, Niger, Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Tanzania and Mauritania
  • Implementation of two major civil society capacity-building events on EITI and natural resource revenue management, for activists in sub-Saharan Africa and around the world
  • Mapping prospects for EITI implementation and civil society support in Angola, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
  • A study tour for EITI activists and budget monitors from Azerbaijan to the United States
  • The drafting of "Drilling Down," a comprehensive guide and training manual for the full cycle of civil society participation in EITI

Recipients of World Bank funding include: Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (Mauritania), Association Africaine de Defense des Droits de l'Homme (Democratic Republic of Congo), National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives (Sierra Leone), Integrated Social Development Center (Ghana), Catholic Relief Services (Cameroon), Réseau des Journalistes pour les Droits de l'Homme (Niger), Réseau des Organisations pour la Transparence et l'Analyse Budgétaire (Niger), Publiez Ce que Vous Payez Côte d'Ivoire (Cote d'Ivoire), l'Association Guinéenne pour la Transparence (Guinea Conakry), Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (Tanzania), CRONGD Kasai Oriental (Democratic Republic of Congo).

Recipients of Dutch MFA funding include: Publish What You Pay Africa Regional Coalition, Southern Africa Resource Watch, National Budget Group (Azerbaijan), TIRI, Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (Mauritania), National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives (Sierra Leone), Catholic Relief Services (Cameroon).

ISSUES

Revenue Transparency
The linkages between resource wealth, poverty, conflict and corruption–the so-called "resource curse"–are well documented. Public information and public accountability are the best guarantee that a country's resource wealth will translate into lasting benefits for its citizens over time.
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Expenditure Transparency
It is impossible to ensure proper management of natural resource wealth by looking exclusively at revenues. Transparent and accountable management and expenditure of public funds is essential to addressing the poverty, corruption and autocracy that too often plague resource rich countries.
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COUNTRIES

Iraq
Iraq, a nation of 25 million people, holds the second largest oil reserves in the world. But the pervasive violence, mismanagement and abuse of recent years have denied its people any lasting benefits from this wealth.
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Peru
Overall, Peru performs much better than many resource abundant countries in both revenue and expenditure transparency, thanks to a legal framework that guarantees citizens access to basic information about oil, gas and mining revenues and their distribution and usage.
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LATEST NEWS
PUBLICATIONS

Escaping the Resource Curse

Too often, developing nations with natural resource wealth face greater conflict, corruption, and poverty than developing nations without an abundance of oil, gas or minerals. There are solutions to this "resource curse," but not without fundamental political changes.
Read more about Escaping the Resource Curse and order copies online ...