How can transparency help in transforming natural resource revenues in developing countries into a blessing rather than a curse?
Welcome to a briefing to learn about the key results of the Transparency and Accountability in Managing High-Value Natural Resources (TrAcRevenues) project. The briefing will focus on the project’s key findings and their policy implications.
Since 2014, TrAcRevenues has focused on the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Government of Ghana’s transparency initiatives in oil sector revenue management in Ghana.
Programme
| 9:30 | Welcome coffee | |
|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | Welcome | Siri Aas Rustad, Senior Researcher, PRIO |
| 10:05 | Opening | Henrik Urdal, PRIO Director |
| 10:15 | Has the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) been a success? Results and policy implications | Päivi Lujala, Project leader, Professor, Department of Geography, NTNU |
| 10:25 | Comment | Pablo Valverde, Regional Director, EITI International Secretariat |
| 10:35 | Transparency and accountability in Ghana’s oil and gas sector revenue spending. Results and policy implications | Ishmael Edjekumhene, Director, KITE, Ghana |
| 10:45 | Comment | Sofi Halling (Norad) |
| 10:55 | Introduction of the expert panel |
|
| 11:05 | Discussion | |
| 11:45 | Lunch |
People
Päivi Lujala is Professor in Geography at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland. Her research on natural resources focus on citizen engagement, transparency, and accountability in natural resource revenue management with an aim of examining how and to what extent disclosing information to citizens about natural resource revenue flows and spending can promote more equalitarian and effective natural resource revenue spending in poor but resource-rich countries. She leads the TrAcRevenues project.
Carl Bruch is Senior Attorney and Director of International Programs at the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), Washington DC. For more than a decade, he has worked to strengthen laws, policies, and institutions governing the environment and natural resources in countries across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.
Christa Brunnschweiler is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the School of Economics of the University of East Anglia, UK. Her research interests lie in the areas of economic growth and development, particularly in resource economics and conflict studies. She has studied various aspects of the natural resource curse, and has examined causes of violent and nonviolent conflict, using both third-party data and primary data gathered through surveys and experiments. Brunnschweiler is a TrAcRevenues research team member.
Ishmael Edjekumhene is the Executive Director of Kumasi Institute of Technology, Energy and Environment (KITE), Ghana. He has led several development-related research projects at the KITE on natural resource revenue spending, provision and preservation of energy public benefits in energy sector reforms, and mainstreaming of energy in national development in Ghana. Edjekumhene is a TrAcRevenues research team member.
Sofi Halling is a Senior Advisor in the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, where she works in the section for Climate, Forests and Green Economy. Before working in Norad, Sofi worked on extractive industries in United Nations Development Programme, where she co-authored the report 'Natural Resource Revenue Sharing'. Sofi has a background from the EITI, and a master in Comparative Politics from London School of Economics.
Philippe Le Billon is Professor in Geography and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Geography and the Liu Institute for Global Issues, University of British Columbia, Canada. He research focus on the links between natural resources and conflicts, the resource curse, and corruption in countries across South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Le Billon is a TrAcRevenues research team member.
Siri Aas Rustad is Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). She has for several years worked on issues related natural resources and conflict, the extractive industry and natural resource management. She has published on the topic in journals like Political Geography, Journal Peace Research, International Interaction, Resources Policy and Extractive Industry and Society. Rustad is a TrAcRevenues research team member.
Henrik Urdal is the Director of PRIO. He assumed the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Peace Research in 2010, became Research Professor at PRIO in 2013, and was appointed as the Director of PRIO in 2017. Prior to his appointment, he was the Research Director for the Conditions of Violence and Peace department at PRIO. Urdal is a highly respected peace researcher with political demography as his key field of expertise.
Pablo Valverde is Regional Director at the EITI International Secretariat working with the Middle East and North Africa and Anglo/Lusophone West Africa. Prior to joining the EITI he was Senior Advisor at the Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global.
The project has been conducted by the Department of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), and Kumasi Institute of Technology, Energy and Environment (KITE). TrAcRevenues has been funded by the Research Council of Norway (through the FRIPRO programme) and NTNU.
