The EITI Blog

The EITI Blog gathers together ideas about the role of transparency and natural resources in creating economic growth and fighting poverty and corruption. The blog is authored by members of the EITI Secretariat and key stakeholders.

Climate change and the EITI

Looking out through my office window here in Oslo, I see the security measures going up around the Nobel Peace Centre and the Town Hall ahead of the ceremonies honouring President Obama. Just opposite the City Hall, Greenpeace has moored one of their ships, getting ready for some campaigning and with a reminder on one of their banners to the President that the next stop is Copenhagen.

The Natural Resource Charter and the EITI

Historically, the natural resources of the poorest countries have often been plundered. The few have expropriated the many, and the present has expropriated the future. Harnessing natural resources for the sustained benefit of ordinary citizens requires that an entire chain of decisions, from the discovery process through to the use of revenues, be got right not just once but repeatedly.

The EITI and Social Media

The last few weeks I have been working on a project for the EITI Secretariat. The project has been to create a first draft of a "Social Media Strategy" for the EITI, helping the Secretariat begin their journey into the world of hyper-communication and user generated content. This is my summary.

Asymmetric information and the EITI

George Soros has recently reminded us in a lecture published in the FT of the ubiquitous nature of the “principal-agent” problem. We can perhaps go one step backward to the core phenomenon that is behind the “agency” problem: asymmetric information.

Peter Eigen interviewed on BBC HARDtalk

Dr Peter Eigen, Chairman of the EITI and founder of Transparency International, was interviewed by Jonathan Charles on the BBC news programme HARDtalk. He spoke about what has happened in the combat against corruption of the past years, and about how the EITI can reduce corruption in the extractive sector by improving disclosing of payments and bringing government, companies and civil society to the table.

A clip from the interview can be seen here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/8341232.stm