Programme objectives and general description

Publish What You Pay (PWYP) is an coalition of more than 300 civil society organisations from more than 50 countries worldwide that campaigns for greater transparency in the payment, receipt and management of revenues from the extractive industries (oil, gas and mining) in order to promote poverty reduction in resource-rich countries in Africa, Latin America, South-East Asia and Central Asia which are often characterized by high levels of corruption, conflict and human suffering. PWYP seeks the publication of extractive company payments and government revenues to provide citizens of resource rich developing countries with a basis to hold their governments accountable for the management of this important source of income. The role of the PWYP International Coordinator, based in the offices of the Open Society Foundation in London, is to service and coordinate PWYP internationally in partnership with member agencies and to act as the focal point of information on the campaign.

PWYP's activities in 2006

· Advocacy targeting regulators to ensure that companies publish financial information that will help track how money is spent for poverty reduction in resource-rich developing countries: PWYP targeted accounting standard setters to ensure that country-by-country reporting requirements are incorporated into global and national accounting standards to gain access to information on extractive company payments to governments for every country of operation. PWYP also advocated for changes to the disclosure rules of regulated financial markets such that all listed extractive companies are required to publish a breakdown of payments to governments (taxes, royalties, bonuses and other transactions) on a country-by-county basis.

· Monitoring the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to ensure that the process contributes to real change in the lives of the poor in resource-rich developing countries: The EITI is a global initiative that brings together governments, companies, NGOs, investors and financial institutions to promote a framework for disclosure of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining industries in resource-rich countries to enhance accountability and governance, which will in turn promote poverty reduction. Around 25 countries have formally committed to implement the EITI but only a handful have actually reported audited data to date - Azerbaijan (in its fifth cycle of EITI reporting), Gabon, Ghana and Nigeria. A few others are making some progress towards reporting - Cameroon, Guinea and Kazakhstan. The PWYP coalition served as a watchdog over the EITI consultative and reporting process at country levels in 2006 to ensure that EITI principles are adhered to by governments and companies.

· Education and capacity building of civil society organizations to ensure that they are effective participants in democratic processes to promote sound fiscal management for poverty reduction:: PWYP organised several training and capacity building events in 2006 to enhance the education, skills and resources of civil society organisations across the developing world to enable them to engage effectively in the campaign and to watchdog the EITI successfully. The largest and most important event of its kind was the PWYP International Strategy Meeting in Oslo, October 2006.

Aims and plans at the start of 2006

· Development of a new EITI validation methodology to (a) ensure that implementing countries and extractive companies adhere to the EITI criteria and to (b) categorize countries as either "candidate" or "compliant" to remove free-riders (non-performing) countries from the process.
· Development of improved and more accountable governance arrangements for the PWYP coalition to ensure that as many members as possible are involved in decision-making on advocacy and strategic priorities, and new structure for development of PWYP international action plan.
· Ongoing development of national and regional civil society networks (emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia) to improve information sharing and transfer of lessons-learned amongst coalition on campaign activities and EITI developments.

Achievements and events held in 2006

· Successful staging of the PWYP International Strategy Meeting in Oslo, Norway, 13-15 October 2006 to map out new international advocacy strategy, governance arrangements for the global coalition and support structures for members and national coalitions, as well as agreement on process for development of PWYP international action plan to cover 2-5 years.
· Support for the organisation and implementation of the EITI International Conference, Oslo, Norway, 16-17 October 2006 in order to agree on new governance arrangements for the Initiative and validation methodology.

Plans for 2007

· Civil society capacity building and education: Supporting capacity building programmes for civil society organisations in developing countries to allow them to gain the skills, technical expertise, resources and funding they require to properly monitor revenue expenditures. A large event for civil society representatives from across the Asia-Pacific will be held in Indonesia, 6-11 August 2007, to raise awareness of PWYP and EITI in that region amongst civil society actors and to train them on critical issues of importance to advocacy, research and monitoring of extractive industries.
· Advocating for global standards for transparency and to ensure that the international community meets its development targets in resource-rich countries: EITI has made a lot of progress but there is still a great need for a level the playing field at the international level to ensure that all companies and governments take action to increase transparency of payments and revenues.
· Monitoring EITI validation: There is now a multi-stakeholder EITI Board to oversee the initiative at global level. The Publish What You Pay International Coordinator is a member of the Board and will be heavily involved in the helping to manage this global process. The most critical issue for the Board at the moment is to roll out the EITI validation process that was agreed at the last international EITI conference in Oslo in October 06.

Please note that OSF London programs form part of the wider program operated by OSI. For further details please use the following link: http://www.publishwhatyoupay.org