Personal Statement

As we are all gathering here in Doha for the meeting that is going to elect the new board I thought this is as good a time as any to make sure my public statement is accessible, though many of you would have been interested saw this when Radhika Sarin sent it out recently.



Personal Statement of Anthony Richter
Chairman, Governing Board, Revenue Watch Institute

The global economic and financial crisis currently unfolding will present significant opportunities for national and international regulatory reform, strengthening efforts around the global standard in extractives transparency, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The climate for reforming industry and the attendant financing, insurance and regulatory architecture will likely never be more propitious than it is presently. To ensure this time is used to the fullest potential, vigorous civil society membership on the board of EITI at this time will therefore be especially important.

I believe my background both working with civil society and extractive issues prepares me well for board membership; I have a deep and wide network of contacts within the field and am known personally by all of the current civil society members of the EITI board. I have been involved in the issues for nearly a decade. In 2001 amidst high interest in the new hydrocarbon deals in the former Soviet Union I launched the Caspian Revenue Watch project at the Open Society Institute as a way to promote a discourse of accountability and citizen engagement. In 2003 we expanded the work to hold to account the US-led occupation of Iraq and control of its oil revenues. Throughout these formative years I was also responsible for seed funding of grassroots movements on extractives in the former Soviet Union and Mongolia, and gave the start-up fund to PWYP-US. In addition I brought in international NGOs such as the International Budget Project to build capacity and partner with groups in producing countries to monitor expenditure of these revenues. The first publication we issued at Revenue Watch, a civil society manual, Follow the Money, translated into many languages, is now being used to orient civil society activists from Africa to Afghanistan.

Since Revenue Watch Institute became an independent organization in 2006 I have served as chair of its Governing Board and maintain links to civil society through our program of capacity-building, research and advocacy alliances around the world. Second, I travel extensively to Asia, Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Europe. At the Open Society Institute where I am the Associate Director I am deeply engaged in our work in the Middle East, South and Central Asia. I frequently seek the opportunity to meet with related civil society groups in countries where EITI works, or could be expanded. I also am engaged in promoting EITI expansion in new places where I think there is promise and scope, recently in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Turkmenistan. Based in New York, I also travel frequently to Washington for OSI.

If selected for EITI board membership, a particular priority would the promotion and protection of civil society perspectives within EITI. Civil society is an essential source of innovation, vigilance and vitality that enhances the country process, as demonstrated by the inclusion of forestry in Liberia’s process, sub-national reporting in Peru, and corporate social responsibility payments in Ghana. In particular I will stand up for the vigorous defense of civil society harassed and intimidated in EITI implementing countries. The cases of Gabon and Congo Brazzaville are as disturbing examples here that we do not want to see repeated in other implementing countries. The free and independent participation of civil society in the EITI process is fundamental to the entire multi-stakeholder approach.

A second priority is representing civil society as the EITI enters a crucial stage of the validation process where countries will be judged to be compliant or not, a technical as well as a political process. This will require dedication to EITI’s principles, sound judgment as well as the capacity for dialogue.

A third priority for my tenure in the EITI board would be to support passage of the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act in the United States. I will work with all civil society, other civil society board members and particularly those in the US, working closely with the PWYP US coalition members. I will also be ready to meet with US industry and USG representatives as the new congress and the new Administration take forward their commitment to transparency and accountability, and push for the United States take its place as a fully compliant implementing country in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

On a final note - I would be interested to explore creative formats for making my own membership transparent and accessible: I have started this periodic blog, a Twitter account, and the like. I will be open to your ideas.