Dear Editor,
Make your views known as Guyana undergoes first Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) validation which commenced on October 1. According to a notice on the Guyana EITI (GYEITI) website (www.gyeiti.org), Guyana is undergoing its first validation visit which started on October 1. The EITI based in Norway will give Guyana scores on 3 indicators: stakeholder engagement, transparency, and outcomes and impact, using the scale – not met, partly met, mostly met, fully met, and exceeded. This validation covers oil and gas, mining and quarrying, forestry, and fisheries. Guyana became an EITI Implementing country on 25th October, 2017 and this is its first EITI Validation. Validation will reflect the country’s performance against each of the Requirements listed in the latest EITI Standard approved in 2019. According to the Validation procedure (See https://eiti.org/document/2021-eiti-validation-procedure), the GYEITI was asked to share this “Call for Views” from the Guyanese stakeholders. While this information was not placed in the Guyana newspapers where it can be seen by all the Guyanese people, it is on the GYEITI website.
The EITI International Validation Team has already disseminated this information to a list of stakeholders currently in its database of contacts for GYEITI/Guyana. EITI will be interviewing some of these stakeholders. GYEITI encourages you to “Please share the call for views as widely as possible.” The EITI Standard requires that the government, extractive companies and civil society are fully, actively and effectively engaged in EITI implementation. The Secretariat is seeking views on the following questions:
1. Are the government, extractive companies and civil society fully, actively and effectively engaged in EITI implementation?
2. Are there any obstacles or barriers to the participation of any of these constituencies or their sub-groups in EITI implementation?
The Secretariat is seeking views on the following questions related to industry engagement:
3. Are oil, gas and mining companies participating actively in the work of the multi- stakeholder group and providing or disclosing the data requested by the EITI?
4. Is there an enabling environment for company participation in the EITI?
The Secretariat is seeking views on the following questions related to civil society engagement:
5. Are civil society organisations able to engage in public debate related to the EITI process and express opinions about the EITI process without restraint, coercion or reprisal?
6. Are civil society representatives able to operate freely in relation to the EITI process?
7. Are civil society representatives able to communicate and cooperate with each other regarding the EITI process?
8. Are civil society representatives able to be fully, actively and effectively engaged in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the EITI process?
9. Are civil society representatives able to speak freely on transparency and natural resource governance issues, and ensure that the EITI contributes to public debate?
The Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN) would like to encourage you to send your viewpoints and opinions right away on transparency and stakeholder engagement to the EITI Validation team (please copy all): Ida J. Krog (IJKrog@eiti.org); Alex Gordy (AGordy@eiti.org); Francisco Paris (FParis@eiti.org); and Emmanuel Burgoa (eburgoa@eiti.org).
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
Oil and Gas Governance Network
(www.oggn.org)
