Bérangère Maïa N. Parizeau, MAAPPS // Feb 17, 2015
To reflect on the potential sub-national reporting frameworks that could be recommended for EITI standards in Mongolia, my cohort and I began our work by researching EITI member countries and their sub-national reporting strategies. We looked at the socio-political context and the processes involved in the implementation of EITI standards in some of the current member countries. Each graduate student individually studied one EITI member country. I decided to look at Yemen, which has a special status as the first Middle Eastern country to become an EITI member. Yemen is a country rich in minerals, gas, and oil. Oil is predicted to be exhausted in 10 to 12 years. It is important for Yemeni’s positive economic development that oil be manage intelligently.
I found fascinating to learn that until the 1990s, the north of Yemen was not structured around governmental institutions. Rather, the numerous Yemeni tribes traded with each other. The network of tribes was interconnected thru countless friendships, and facilitated by the honouring of those friendships. This is called tribal law. The political structure was based on the network of tribal alliances with minimal use of violence. The unique tribal societal politico-economic structure is a good reminder that there are limitless ways in which society can choose to structure itself. Keeping this in mind, I want to underline the importance of creative problem solving when addressing major challenges, and fostering decision-making processes outside expected norms to find intelligent solutions.
Yemen is currently undergoing a security crisis, crippling violence, and the possibility of political collapse. The parliament was recently dismantled by the Houthis rebels. The UN Security Council is demanding Houthis rebels to cease their threats, and called for the reassignment of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi to his post. Instability in Yemen has caused the country to be suspended from EITI several times between 2011 and 2014 because of Yemen’s lack of timeliness in reporting. Corruption has reach critical levels in Yemen. In fact it is one of Yemen’s core challenges.
It has been eye opening to research the current state of extractive industry transparency and EITI initiatives in Yemen. Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East. More than 40 percent of the population is food insecure living on less than $2 a day. Yemen is currently experiencing a water crisis. Yemen is the country with the most arable land in the arab world. In December 2011, Tawakkul Karman, a Yemeni politician, and senior member of the Al-Islah political party, mother of three, became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Laureate for her work as a peace builder activist in Yemen. The country’s civil society is very active, as is exemplified by peace activist and Nobel Peace prize recipient Tawakkul Karman. The multi-stakeholder group overviewing the standardization reporting processes in Yemen is composed of parliamentary members. Yemen is one of the few countries which had parliamentarians involved in revenue reporting and EITI standards implementation processes.
The World Bank has facilitated a knowledge exchange program between Yemen and Kazakhstan. This is a fabulous way to build Yemen’s transparency and accountability capacity in the extractive sectors. The pairing of two countries to build knowledge can be a great tool for knowledge transfer if it is exercised properly. In my opinion, this kind of knowledge transfer could be used more. It is a great way to develop ties and friendships between countries as well. In Yemen, the emerging role of civil society, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), are becoming more and more engaged with the various stakeholders and working towards building consensus. Although, too much of a narrow focus on consensus can detract from creative problem solving ideas.