EITI International Secretariat 2011 Report

2011 Secretariat Report.pdf

Publisher: EITI

December 2011

This report provides an account of the EITI International Secretariat’s activities in 2011. It reflects the 2011 workplan agreed by the Board at its meeting in Dar es Salaam in October 2010.

The EITI highlights of 2011 include:

Eight countries completed the Validation process bringing the total number of validated countries to 25. Eight candidate countries that had been deemed “close to Compliant” in 2010 underwent an EITI Secretariat Review to assess its progress.
Six countries became EITI Compliant (Kyrgyz Republic, Mali, Mongolia, Niger, Norway and Yemen). This doubled the number from the beginning of 2011 to 12 Compliant countries.
19 countries produced a total of 21 EITI Reports. 30 countries have now produced EITI reconciliation reports, and there were 78 reports in total by the end of 2011. Seven countries (Albania, Burkina Faso, Iraq, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia) published their first EITI Reports. More than half a billion people live in the 30 countries that now have access to information on revenues from their country’s natural resource sector – many for the first time. Almost 850 companies have reported.
The Secretariat published a document assessing and analysing the key information on government revenues and companies’ payments from these reports which can be found on the EITI website.
Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago began implementing the EITI, expanding EITI in Latin America and bringing the total EITI implementing countries to 35.
Clare Short was elected as the new EITI Chair in March.
In September, the United States announced that it would implement the EITI, becoming the second OECD country to commit to EITI implementation. Several other countries declared their intention to implement the EITI including Solomon Islands, South Sudan and Tajikistan.
Australia launched a pilot to implement the EITI in October giving recognition to the EITI standard as a governance tool.
EITI continued to be a platform for policy dialogue at the international level with Heads of State, CEOs and leaders of international civil society taking part in the EITI Global Conference in Paris in March. Around 1000 participants from more than 70 countries gathered in Paris to explore the impact that the EITI is having in implementing countries and to discuss the future of the EITI.
The first EITI National Exhibition took place in the margins of the EITI Global Conference, displaying the EITI materials from the 35 implementing countries: reports, posters, newspaper articles, videos, radio programmes, cartoons, T-shirts, etc.
Several new publications were launched, including the EITI 2009-2011 Progress Report, Revised EITI Rules, Good Practice Notes, an EITI Video and EITI case studies. These have been translated into one or more languages.
13 new companies declared their support for the EITI: Avocet, Centerra Gold, DNO, Dundee Precious Metal, Eramet, GALP Energia, Glencore, Intierra, Kinross Gold Corporation, Mærsk Oil, Pacific Rubiales, Tata Steel Cote d’Ivoire and Tullow Oil. The EITI is now supported by 61 companies internationally.
Leaders at the 2011 summits of the G20 and of the Commonwealth Heads of Government issued clear endorsements of the EITI. The G20 leaders stated that the “disclosure of payments and revenues … empower[s] citizens and contributes to reducing poverty”.

An evaluation of the EITI undertaken in early 2011 found that it has built a “credible international brand” that is attracting new members and support at country level and has established “functioning multi-stakeholder groups, reconciliation reports, dissemination and public debate, and increased demand for transparency in the sector”. However, it also noted some major challenges ahead, including recommending a fundamental change to the Validation process to ensure that the EITI brings about fundamental changes. This reflected a concern that EITI Compliance alone does not necessarily bring about the aims sets out in the EITI Principles established in 2003. Even if EITI Compliance is alone not sufficient to generate desired change, many countries are not achieving compliance and a few appear to be losing political momentum. The adoption of the revised EITI Rules contributed improving the quality of the reporting, amongst other things. The recommendations in the evaluation are noted in the 2012 workplan and are being addressed in on-going Board strategy discussions.

Two countries, Yemen and Madagascar, were suspended from the EITI implementation process due to a non-conducive environment for effective multi-stakeholder dialogue.

The International Secretariat would like to thank all EITI stakeholders for their hard work in 2011 and the invaluable contribution they have made in ensuring the progress seen in countries implementing the EITI. The Secretariat looks forward to meeting the challenges that the EITI will face in the coming year with the help and support of dedicated stakeholders. It remains committed to furthering the principles of transparency, cooperation and consensus building upon which the EITI was created.