In light of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the World Bank, the “Publish What You Pay” coalition, and other partners organized two important events. Representatives of Civil Society from twelve Central and West African nations participated in a capacity building training seminar from 27 November-2 December 2005 in Kribi, followed by a 3-day workshop on developing a regional strategy for the Publish What You Pay campaign in Central and West Africa. RELUFA's national coordinator Valery Nodem had been selected as one of the five Cameroonian representatives. Through his participation in the two events, the network will be able to play a more effective role as advocate for equity and transparency in the extractive industries.
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Capacity Building
Besides sharing about the current situation on oil explorations and development in their respective countries, statistics on production, revenues and impact, participants took a closer look at:
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The Economy of the oil sector
- The roles of the State, national companies and private investors
- Oil contracts and production
- Risks and revenues: fiscal and other important clauses in the oil contracts in West Africa
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The Management of Oil revenues
- Macro-economic aspects, public funds, budgetary procedures
- General approach to poverty reduction
- Laws on the management of oil revenues, with examples from Chad et de Sao Tome
The importance of Transparency
- IMF regulations on transparency
- Initiatives for transparency and its importance
- Contracts of production sharing, financial numbers of oil companies, audits and other transparency-related aspects
The EITI
- Origin, current situation, next steps
- Principles and mechanisms to develop and implement national action plans
- Communicating results of EITI
- Revisions and improvements, continuity of the actions
- Tools and indicators for transparency
The role of Civil Society
- Experiences with participation of civil groups in pilot countries
- Indicators for active participation by civil society
- Country-level training seminars
Strategic Planning
In preparation of a regional strategy, participants gavee a summary on recent developments and strategies in each of their countries. In small groups they discussed common priorities, issues and means for cooperation, experiences in dealing with companies and International Financial Institutions and effective government advocacy strategies. The role of the media was also be addressed.
International NGO partners presented and discussed common strategies vis-à-vis companies, EITI, World Bank, IMF etc. They highlighted Coalition management, Internal governance arrangements, Project management, Financial oversight and Mechanisms to mobilize civil society membership.
The workshop ended with the finalization of a PWYP Regional Action Plan and the elaboration of a civil society workshop communiqué.
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