Prominent experts to advise on the independent review of civil society guidelines in the EITI

An Advisory Panel of independent experts has been set up to guide the Consensus Building Institute in reviewing the EITI civil society guidelines which determine how the civil society constituency is governed.

Ahead of the next nominations for its 2019-2022 term, the EITI Board has requested all of its three constituencies to reassess their guidelines, in order to strengthen existing procedures. The civil society constituency expects to endorse its new guidelines by July 2018.

The Advisory Panel will provide insight into good practices as well as relevant guidance on institutional practices, mechanisms and tools that enhance accountability and inclusiveness in civil society self-governance within multi-stakeholder processes. The review will be driven by extensive outreach to EITI civil society stakeholders at global and national levels to ensure any recommendations are fit-for-purpose within the specific EITI context. The Advisory Panel’s input will enrich the analysis and menu of options for structuring representation and information exchange. These recommendations will be conveyed to the EITI Civil Society Board Members for a consultative review with the broader CSO constituency.

The members of the Advisory Panel bring a diversity of viewpoints across geographic regions, sectors, institutional experiences and gender:

• Barbara Adams is the Former Chief of Strategic Partnerships for the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). She also served for many years as Deputy Coordinator of the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS), and has vast experience with civil society engagement in multi-stakeholder policy fora.
• K. Zehra Arshad is the national Coordinator of the Pakistan Coalition for Education and represents civil society on the Board of the Global Partnership for Education, a multi-stakeholder partnership to strengthen education systems in developing countries. She also represents civil society on various international networks like Collective Consultation of NGOs on Education for All and the Global Campaign for Education and serves on the board of various civil society organizations.
• L. David Brown conducted research at Harvard University and Boston University and on civil society capacities and contributions to sustainable development around the world. He has published widely on the subject, with specific attention to issues of legitimacy and accountability for transnational civil society, including his book Creating Credibility (Kumarian Press, 2008). He has also serves on the board of World Education and Akiba Uhaki International, among others.
• Maina Kiai is a lawyer who served as UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association between 2011 and 2017. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of the International Council on Human Rights Policy, oversaw Amnesty International’s Africa programs, and served as the Chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission. Dr. Kiai currently serves as director of the local Kenyan NGO InformAction.
• Rocio Moreno Lopez is the Executive Director of Accountable Now, a global platform that supports CSOs to be transparent, responsive to stakeholders and focused on delivering impact. A national of Mexico, she previously served as Global Coordinator for the Global Movement for Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) and has worked on citizen participation and capacity building projects for Open Society, and the MacArthur, Ford and Hewlett Foundations, among others.
• Werner Kiene chairs the Board of the Marine Stewardship Council, a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on safeguarding seafood supplies. He is also the Chair of the Compliance Review Panel of the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Vice-Chair of the Board of Fairtrade International Certification, FLO-CERT in Bonn. He has vast experience in food security and strengthening communities for effective resource management at Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Ford Foundation and the World Food Programme (WFP).
• Adil Najam serves as the Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. His scholarship focuses on issues of global public policy related to environment and development, and he has written extensively on governance arrangements in the context of international initiatives spanning North and South. He is a Trustee on the International Board of WWF and the Asia Foundation. Earlier, he chaired the Board of the South Asia Network of Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) and of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) in his native Pakistan.
• Ray Offenheiser leads the Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development in its mission to promote human development and dignity among people worldwide. He also serves as Distinguished Professor of the Practice at Notre Dame. Prior to that, he served as President of Oxfam America for over 20 years, promoting a social justice approach to the fight against global poverty. Under his leadership Oxfam America built a private sector department which has been leading within the NGO community on corporate practices in developing countries. In particular, Ray helped establish Oxfam America’s expertise on the impact of oil and mining companies on the land and communities in which they operate. Previously, he served as the Ford Foundation representative in Bangladesh and, prior to that, in the Andean and Southern Cone regions of South America.

Background:

• The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) a global standard to promote the open and accountable management of extractive resource. It is designed to improve accountability and public trust for the revenues paid and received for a country’s oil, gas and mineral resources through the disclosure of relevant information.
• The EITI established an unprecedented governance approach in the sector whereby three constituencies – government, companies and civil society – have equal weight in making decisions.
• Each constituency is self-governed and therefore responsible for defining its own internal rules and procedures, including the nomination process and criteria to select its representatives to serve on the EITI Board, in line with agreed, shared principles. The international EITI Board is made up of 21 members from implementing countries, supporting countries, civil society organisations, industry and institutional investors.
• As the largest global coalition of civil society organisations working to promote the good governance of natural resources, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) was tasked in 2005 to develop, regularly review and implement the constituency guidelines for civil society on the EITI Board. As part of this role, PWYP has been responsible for coordinating the nominations process for the 10 civil society EITI Board seats to date.
• For more information on the Consensus Building Institute please visit CBI’s website at www.cbuilding.org; for any question or suggestions, please contact Michele Ferenz, CBI Senior Mediator at [email protected]