The International Open Data Conference (IODC) is the annual meeting of the global open data community. IODC aims to build stronger relationships between open data initiatives from different governments and establish a dialogue between policymakers, NGO’s and companies. Extractives were a key theme at this year’s IODC in Madrid.
The Nigerian EITI (NEITI) is discussing the potential for open data to further enhance their already formidable reputation in promoting transparency in Nigeria's oil and gas sector. As ever, the devil is in the detail…
I am currently in Abuja, supporting NEITI in developing an open data policy. The EITI often leads to ground-breaking disclosures, but too often this information is locked in pdf reports. Our work on open data aims to make this information more accessible, useful and influential.
EITI implementing countries are increasingly making the information required by the EITI Standard available through government and corporate reporting systems (databases, websites, annual reports, portals etc). The International Secretariat encourages and recognises these efforts to mainstream the EITI into government structures and make transparency an integral part of how governments manage the sector.
EITI makes its first assessment under EITI Standard
Today, the EITI Board completed its 35th Board meeting with discussions on the Azerbaijan’s status following its Validation as well as setting out its workplan, finances and governance for the coming year.
EITI prolongs Azerbaijan’s membership
The Board agreed that Azerbaijan should remain a candidate but with corrective actions to be undertaken and progress to be reviewed in a validation starting on 26 July 2017.
Board discusses progress around the world
The 35th EITI Board Meeting, hosted by the Government of Kazakhstan, gathered together over eighty members and observers. The Board discussed implementation progress in the fifty-one member countries. Amongst the main topics discussed, the members highlighted progress on the roadmap to disclose beneficial ownership, targeted efforts on commodity trading, mainstreaming and project-level reporting. According to the EITI Standard,
EITI Board members visit the biggest open pit gold mine in Central Asia – Vasilkovka
The week of the first ever Board meeting in Central Asia, hosted by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan started with a field trip of the EITI Board to the largest open-pit gold deposit in Kazakhstan - Vasilkovka. The mine is located 347 km away from Astana. Operated by JSC Altyntau-Kokshetau, whose parent company is Glencore,
This is part one of a three-part series of blogs that the Secretariat will be publishing in the coming weeks. The series draws on the early lessons and findings from Validation and brings the readers’ attention to the importance of Validation – not just an assessment tool, but also as a means of improving implementation and relevance of the EITI, learning from each other’s experiences and refreshing and energising processes in countries.
Day 3 of Francophone African EITI week in Abidjan.
When asked about the objectives of Validation, the quality assurance mechanism of the EITI, participants had a variety of responses. These included recognising efforts, assessing the impact of implementation, certifying compliance, respecting the requirements, ensuring the integrity of the EITI, confirmation, consensus and evaluation.
Day 2 of the EITI Francophone Africa peer learning week
“It is not a problem of will, but a problem of a weak structure and information.” - Djibi Sow, National Coordinator of Mauritania
It is clear that the region needs better information systems. Michel Okoko, National Coordinator of Republic of the Congo said, “There is a lot of talk about information systems. Why? Because they don’t work”.
Day 2 of the EITI Francophone Africa peer learning week
“It is not a problem of will, but a problem of a weak structure and information.” - Djibi Sow, National Coordinator of Mauritania
It is clear that the region needs better information systems. Michel Okoko, National Coordinator of Republic of the Congo said, “There is a lot of talk about information systems. Why? Because they don’t work”.