What does effective multi-stakeholder governance look like in practice? MSI Integrity co-founder Amelia Evans has recently completed in-country visits to the Philippines, DRC, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Azerbaijan to talk with civil society, community, government, and business representatives about their experiences with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Amelia has been listening to the successes and challenges that stakeholders have experienced both inside and outside of the national EITI multi-stakeholder groups (MSG), as part of our first externally-suggested independent research project: assessing the governance of EITI MSGs.
In the EITI, the implementation and reporting process is overseen and managed by MSGs in each country that must include government, companies and civil society and meet certain other EITI requirements. However, very little independent research has been undertaken to assess the governance of this process in EITI implementing countries. The MSI Integrity research project is examining the selection, composition, governance, and operation of MSGs, with a particular focus on understanding the participation and inclusion of national and local civil society organizations within MSGs.
This project was initiated by the suggestion of Publish What You Pay (PWYP). It is being conducted independently of both PWYP and EITI, and in conformity with MSI Integrity’s commitment to transparency, human rights principles, and engagement and reflexive consultation with all stakeholders.
MSI Integrity welcomes receiving suggested research projects from any stakeholder or MSI on topics that deserve greater attention or require critical research. Potential topics are unlimited, and could focus on anything from analyzing particularly innovative efforts by a specific MSI to surveying common challenges faced by many MSIs. We review all requests for research that are received, and will pursue projects based on resource capacity and how they further our mission to understand the human rights impact and value of voluntary initiatives.
For additional information about this project, or to provide input that may be valuable to our findings and recommendations, please contact: info@msi-integrity.org.