Direct investment in the extractive industries: citizen empowerment for better governance and accountability

Through our network of partners in oil-producing and mining regions of the world, IIED promoted exchange of knowledge and skills to stimulate dialogue between stakeholders in extractive industries projects.

The overall goal of this project was to empower citizens to hold public and private sector actors to account in decisions concerning direct investment in the extractive industries (oil, gas and mining). 

We focused on six key areas for knowledge and skills sharing:

1. Legal tools for citizen empowerment
2. Economic analysis tools
3. Company-led approaches
4. Ccommunication and advocacy tools
5. Monitoring and evaluation, and
6. Capacity building techniques.

Workshops

On 5-6 February 2009, the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) organised a multi-stakeholder workshop on 'Oil and gas contracts and citizen advocacy' in Accra, Ghana.

Among the participants were representatives from local government, industry and civil society, and partners from Azerbaijan, Uganda and Nigeria.

On 8-9 April 2009, Kazakhstan Revenue Watch, IIED and FIELD organised a workshop in Almaty, Kazakhstan, entitled The Rules of the Game: Strengthening accountability in extractive industry contracts. This was a training workshop for civil society organisations for Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Mongolia.