PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Extractives

Ensuring a Country’s Natural Resources actually Benefit Citizens.
How can we ensure a country’s natural resources actually benefit citizens?
Greater openness around natural resource management builds public engagement and accountability. DG aims to make extractives data compelling, interactive, and seamless – to enable technical and non-technical users alike to understand the impacts of extractive activities on communities and to increase data use in decision-making.
Our Background in Extractives
DG’s work in extractives began in 2015, as a partnership with the International Secretariat of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). We began building a deep knowledge of extractives data sources, reporting standards, and visualization techniques. Now, we lead innovative programs throughout West Africa assessing feasibility, measuring women’s participation, and presenting data on community impacts.
Understanding Each Country and Context

Though several extractive industry (EI) issues are common in mineral-rich countries, the first step we take in extractives projects is an in-depth assessment of the legal, institutional, and organizational contexts in place, thinking through what challenges might be shared across mineral-rich contexts. We also undertake technical assessments of existing systems and user needs. Understanding the national context helps assess a given country’s readiness to disclose data and guides our work at the country level.

By pursuing a full understanding of country readiness to proactively manage and disclose extractives industry data, we aim to improve transparency and citizens’ ability to pursue accountability in the sector.

EI sector data is complex and technical, with information often hidden in contracts, impact studies, or legal documents. DG compiles and translates this information into easy-to-understand data visualization and analysis tools that prioritize simplicity and ease, encouraging data use in decision-making, and supporting accountability mechanisms in the sector.

Applying a Gender Lens to EI Data
By increasing the supply of data about women’s and girls’ complex relationships with the male-dominated industry, we build evidence around the real obstacles women face in EI. We then work to document findings on gender and EI, which helps governments consider women in EI policy, programs, and solutions.

impact

The Women in Mining Guinea Index: DG developed a first-of-its-kind Women’s Index for the Extractive Sector: the WIM Guinea Index. With support from the Open Society Initiative in West Africa (OSIWA), our partnership with WIM Guinea targeted three mineral-rich Guinean communes: Boké, Siguiri, and Kérouané. The WIM Index is used to monitor progress in improving women’s living conditions in mining communities, provides a clear perspective on what hinders women’s involvement in the mining sector, fuels local and national conversation, and promotes decision-making towards sustainable solutions. DG also made institutional and organizational recommendations to WIM Guinea’s platform and organizational sustainability.

Extractive Industries Data Portals (EIDPs) for West Africa: DG worked on mapping data needs, availability, and use in the extractives sector in Nigeria, Guinea, and Senegal, each a signatory to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) principles. In doing so, we supported EITI in each country, enabling them to efficiently manage data on their extractive industries; make this information transparent and accessible to the public in a more timely fashion; and effectively visualize and use these data to improve the management of extractive resources and revenue.

We also bring a gender focus to this work; enabling transparency and use of evidence to understand women and girls’ complex relationship with the extractives industry. Better understanding and documenting good practices on gender and EI can help governments consider women in building new EI policy, programmes, and solutions. By pursuing a full understanding of country readiness to proactively manage and disclose EI data, our work improves transparency and citizens’ ability to pursue accountability in the sector.

Nigeria Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative Audit Automation: The Nigeria Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) works to promote transparency and good governance by validating and publishing data on taxes paid by companies in the extractives sector. In partnership with the Ford Foundation and NEITI, DG developed an EIDP tool to automate data collection and support the process of reconciling conflicting financial data shared by the private sector and the government. DG’s goal was to streamline the audit process to allow NEITI to publish the audit report in a timely manner, providing up-to-date information that can be better used by civil society organizations and other actors to further their advocacy goals. DG also built a series of training modules to allow NEITI’s staff to sustainably use and maintain the system.