Terms of Reference: Outreach and Candidature Committee

As of September 2023, the EITI is being implemented in 57 countries in six regions: Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East. However, many resource-rich countries are still not members of the EITI and should be encouraged to join. While governments are primarily responsible for implementation, the EITI is a global movement and its success also relies on the engagement of all the other stakeholders – supporting governments, companies and civil society. Accordingly, targeted outreach efforts are required to build and sustain support from companies, investors and civil society organisations.

The International Secretariat is responsible for providing guidance and support to countries applying for EITI Candidate status and supporting the Board in evaluating applications in consultation with stakeholders and partners. Much of the outreach activities are undertaken by EITI stakeholders, with the International Secretariat playing a coordinating and supportive role. 

The EITI Outreach and Candidature Committee oversees the EITI Candidature application process, serving as a focal point for the outreach of EITI stakeholders to new countries, ensuring that the EITI Board is informed on outreach activities, and providing direction or support to these activities where necessary.

With support from the EITI International Secretariat, the Outreach and Candidature Committee shall:

Outreach

1. Guide and monitor the implementation of the International Secretariat’s priorities and strategies for outreach as per the EITI work plan and outreach strategy.
2. Regularly update the Board of progress against the work plan and outreach strategy through its oversight of the International Secretariat’s Outreach Progress Reports. The Committee shall regularly review the outreach strategy and suggest updates to the EITI Board as needed.
3. Provide advice and recommendations on relations and communications with stakeholders from non-implementing countries.
4. Act as a reference point on the Board for outreach by liaising regularly with governments, international financial institutions, multilateral organisations, companies, investors and civil society groups.

EITI candidature

5. Review and appraise Candidature applications status to ensure that the eligibility requirements set out in the EITI Standard are fulfilled. In particular, the Committee will assess whether a country has fully completed the four sign-up steps and is adequately prepared for successful and timely implementation of the EITI in line with the EITI Standard.
6. Make recommendations to the Board regarding Candidature applications. In cases where the Committee considers that a country is not yet ready for candidature, it may recommend steps that the Board could encourage the country to take so that the conditions for successful implementation of the EITI are put in place.

The Outreach and Candidature Committee was established through Board Circular 339. The members are listed on this page. 

The Committee follows the EITI Observer Policy for EITI committees as approved in December 2022. Stakeholders interested in observing Committee meetings will find information on upcoming meetings here.

The Committee also follows the EITI Board’s Policy on quorum for committees as established at its 18^th EITI Board meeting in Jakarta in 2011 and reaffirmed in 2014:

For a meeting to be considered quorate, each constituency should have at least one member present and there should be at least one member from implementing countries. If a meeting is not quorate, decisions may be taken by correspondence on a no-objection basis following the circulation of meeting minutes.

Any committee member can call for a non-quorate meeting to be ended. In the absence of a committee member, a colleague or a Board member from the same constituency may convey the position of the committee member.

The Committee will be supported by the EITI International Secretariat to fulfil its Terms of Reference. This support will include drafting agenda, papers and minutes for consideration by the Committee. The documentation will be made regularly available through the Implementation Committee pages on the internal EITI Board website.

The Committee follows the Board-endorsed “Good practices for committee calls”, available on pages 10 and 11 of the EITI Board manual, including deadlines for the submission of papers and individual responsibilities of committee members.

The Committee follows the EITI’s Openness Policy. Committee members should be judicious in their sharing of the internal working documents of the committee, which are not considered public in accordance with provision 4 of the EITI Openness Policy.

Members of the Outreach and Candidature Committee are expected to familiarise themselves with – and abide by – the EITI Association Code of Conduct.