Pioneering extractive sector transparency. A PWYP perspective on 15 Years of EITI

Highlights

• The EITI went from being a loose set of reporting requirements to a comprehensive and well respected standard of disclosure.
• PWYP played a major part in continuously strengthening the EITI as a normative trend setter in the extractive industries.
• Citizen uptake of EITI data remains a key challenge to delivering impact on the ground in resource rich countries.

Abstract
The EITI progressively went from being a loose set of reporting requirements to a comprehensive and well respected standard of disclosure. As a global coalition, PWYP played a major role in this continuous strengthening of the EITI as a normative trend setter in the extractive industries. The ability of the EITI to continuously reconcile numerous, oftentimes diverging priorities has been at the heart of its success, both as a model of multi-stakeholder governance and as a transparency standard. From a PWYP perspective, it is important to pay credit to those essential achievements. But it is equally important to highlight outstanding challenges − the insufficient use of EITI data by citizens being an essential one − that have prevented the initiative from fully reaching its transformative potential for citizens and local communities in resource rich countries to reap important benefits from extractive activities.

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