Category Archives: EITI Mongolia

Why sub-national reporting?

Bulgan Batdorj, MASc candidate in Mining Engineering // March 23, 2015

Sub-national reporting is demanded by NGOs, activists and companies despite great difficulties to get there. Since the announcement of the sub-national reporting concept, many countries were excited about the idea and planned to embrace it. But until now there is not a common model which can be applied or adopted by countries. Many countries are having difficulties implementing the sub-national reporting due to many challenges, such as tax governance, politics, lack of public awareness, local government’s capacity and many more. Yet, the local NGOs’ argue that EITI sub-national reporting is the only necessary dialogue to amend the broken trust between local citizen, corporation and the local government.

According to the study carried out by the Goldman Sachs in 2008, the single largest category which caused the industry slow down and significant increase in the cost was the stakeholder – related risks. Among those the local protest is claimed to be one of the biggest reasons that mine projects are being jeopardized. The extractive industry is starting to recognize the costs of conflicts with local communities and more than ever the emphasis is given to building positive relationship with the local community and aboriginal community. The cost of conflict is not bared by the company only. The community is as much affected as the corporations if the conflict is not resolved. Depending on the level of the conflict and the size of the project, the potential to damage to the regional or national economy will materialize. This is why, it is rather important for the stakeholders to find platform to have a meaningful dialogue to prevent or resolve the conflicts.

In conclusion, the sub-national reporting is not making all the senses to all the stakeholders and there are suspicions that this is just another “condition” from the World Bank to developing countries. But according to the local activists and civil societies that local reporting and local transparency will enable the informed local participation in the decision making. But many recognize that EITI grants the people the lens to look through but accountability has to go parallel to make changes in corruption and poverty.

Communication of EITI: Creative Opportunities for Problem Solving Strategies

Bérangère Maïa N. Parizeau, MAAPPS // March 23, 2015

“Talking Matters! A guide for communicating the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative” published in April 2013, is a key EITI document regarding the process of communicating information about EITI strategically. The document explains in detail the importance of targeting the audience properly, as well as understanding the habits and circumstances of the population you are wanting to communicate EITI information too. There may be a clear distinction between the ways in which to communicate with a nomadic, rural or an urban population for example. What is the target population’s age group: youngsters, teenagers, or older folks. To design an effective communication strategy, it is necessary to understand the population’s accessibility to various technologies. For example, what is the percentage of the population which has access to a cell phone, radio, TV and internet access. What is the population’s literacy rate? Research into the habits of a population can be a useful way to find out where to focus limited resources.

“In order to establish the right communications mix, the Nigerian EITI conducted research to find out how Nigerians access information. They found that across Africa, urban residents are four times more likely than rural residents to read a daily newspaper. They also observed that about 44% of Nigerians listen to the radio on a daily basis. Using this information, the NEITI was able to strategically build a communications mix, which would utilize the information channels preferred by the target audiences in Nigeria (pp.35).”

Talking Matters! presents in great details the steps by which the process of communicating information about EITI can be done intelligently and effectively. It offers wonderful tools for those interested in communicating information about EITI with defined goals. I found particularly interesting the suggestion that “questions” on issues regarding extractive industries, as opposed to stating facts, when they are used in the EITI communication process, can facilitate or provoke public reflection and empowerment. The EITI information and communication process therefore becomes actively participatory, a dynamic platform for the development of the population’s understanding of their legal rights, and I will add environmental rights. Another interesting aspects of this document is the diversity of methods proposed. “Activities such as radio campaigns, local presentations, and the distribution of pamphlets and newsletters help promote awareness and understanding (pp.2).” The article offers useful insights into the importance of intentionality in the choice of medium to effectively communicate information about extractive industries. The quality of the message must be carefully adapted to the circumstances of the population targeted in order to have a positive, valuable, and lasting impact. It is a sophisticated process to design an effective strategy that has the ability to provoke a successful social impact.

“This is why a good and effective communications strategy needs to include the two main tracks of communication outlined above: one-way outreach to the citizens through sharing and dissemination of knowledge materials (i.e. printed, audiovisual, new media materials and road shows), as well as two-way communication with key stakeholders and opinion leaders, including civil society capacity building, strategic use of community radio, youth engagement, social media and educational campaigns including those using puppetry and theatre, engaging the audience and listeners in issues related to the extractive industries and its revenues. Chapter 4 provides further details of the materials, tools and channels that can be used in this respect (pp.15).”

PROLIFERATING EDUCATION ABOUT EITI TO MONGOLIAN CITIZENS

Harry Li, MAAPPS // March 20, 2015

In my last blogpost, the group debated on what our next steps should be. A division pursuing publication and policy recommendations was consented upon. Half of the group, including myself, formed a policy-oriented group exploring the feasible recommendations to promote local engagement with EITI. The other half of the group focuses on drafting a document, incorporating the previous findings and recommendations from the policy group.

The policy group discussed on the best options in promoting proliferating education about EITI reporting at both the national and sub-national level. After careful feasibility researches, we have narrowed down to seven possible places where EITI reporting can be educated to the public: banks, schools, libraries, healthcare facilities, gas stations, citizens’ hall and sum centers. We decided to focus more on the rural population rather than citizens in Ulaanbaatar because rural citizens are more affected regionally from the mining activities.

In terms of method, we have quite a few feasible ideas. We find the use of cartoon extremely effective. EITI Guatemala and EITI Peru have created a short cartoon series explaining the significance and role of EITI in their countries’ mining industries. We find that simple and easy to understand. Not all rural citizens have the time or interest to read a 10-page report with heavy data charts, thus a cartoon with/or a catchy slogan may be more effective in this case.

My research focus is on the Mongolian Citizens’ Hall. On December 2009, the President of Mongolia, Elbegdorj Tsakhia, formally opened the Citizens’ Hall. With the German embassy, TAF and OSI providing technical assistance, it is a public hearing forum is located in the capital and is designed to encourage civil participation in the planning and decision-making process. Although the citizens does not have law-making power here, but Citizens’ Hall seek, consider and incorporate reactions of citizens to already drafted legislations. The goal is to establish a tradition of citizen engagement in Mongolia, thus strengthening the governmental transparency and implementation of policy through consensus. Creating the Citizens’ Hall was part of a concerted effort on behalf of the governing party to ‘consolidate its young democracy’. The Citizens’ Hall uses all types of social media (website, Facebook, twitter) and broadcasts major debates. Events are usually attended by parliament members, government officials and experts. By January 2012, 15 out of 21 provinces, 5 out of 9 districts of the capital city established Citizens’ Hall.

Since more provinces promoting legislature engagement with Citizens’ Hall, perhaps, it is possible to put up posters of cartoons and infographics about EITI in these centers. Also, we should also make copies of our detailed report (written by the publication group) available in those centers.

Women and Mining in Mongolia

Debbie Prasad, MAAPPS // March 15, 2015

The Mongolian President recently took part in celebrating Women’s Day last week. The celebrations involved calling representatives of thousands of mothers and girls in Mongolia and honouring them with special badges. The President also spoke about the various problems that faced women in Mongolian society.

I have not been able to access what details were entailed in the speech, but I am hopeful that the lack of women’s representation in the extractive industry was seen as an issue that needed to be addressed.

For the past few weeks, I have been getting to learn a lot about Mongolian society including their shared identity of idolizing Ghenghis Khan, their predominantly meat and dairy heavy foods, and also their extremely high literacy rate. I have been doing a little digging of my own and wanted to see what women’s roles in society and mining were and I came across a World Bank report that stated that only 5-10 percent of the extractive industry sector were female, and that they were primarily in service support roles. The Mongolia 2008 labour regulations limited women’s participation in the extractive sector, which led to promoting women towards “easier” jobs. Which were not really to be found in mining.

Mining constitutes approximately 18% of Mongolia’s GDP, and just under 10% of the labour force is employed in the extractive industry, while 33% of the labour force are employed in agriculture and 55% are employed in the service industry. In addition to this, there is a projected labour shortage in the extractive industry, while there is a mining boom.

Now, to put all this together, and get to my point! One purpose of having the EITI in Mongolia was to increase transparency. In order to do this, civil society needs to be given to tools to hold companies and the government accountable for their actions. One way in which society can be able to hold parties responsible is by being more involved and aware of the activities- and what better way to be aware of activities than by actually being employed in the industry? It seems that the numbers are not just a little low for everyone’s employment in the mining labour force, but this is even more so for women. One little way that transparency and interest in mining can further increase in Mongolia is by having more of their own citizens involved in the extractive labour force. I agree that so far, mining has been discriminating against women not just in Mongolia, but this happens all over the world, and so it is not my intention to single Mongolia out. But why not look for solutions that can benefit everyone?

In the case of Mongolia, one possible solution to the upcoming labour shortage can be to involve more women in the industry. The education and infrastructure is already present in Mongolia with respect to mining, all that needs to happen is to encourage and involve more of the women. Possibly, this involvement will help to increase awareness interest in mining in Mongolia, and as a result, lead to increased gender equality.

Sources:

“Mongolia: Raising Female Participation in the Large Scale Mining Sector” World Bank, 2013

“Government Authorities Praise the International Women’s Day” http://www.infomongolia.com/ct/ci/8991

“Best Honored Mothers Have Been Awarded” http://www.infomongolia.com/ct/ci/3473

Room for Optimism in Mongolian Resource Extraction Transparency

Jon Brasnett, MAAPPS // Mar 8, 2015

After researching the case of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and its own implementation of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) standards, I felt discouraged about the legitimacy of this initiative and its ability to bring transparency. Mauritania is a semi-presidential republic governed by a military leader who was “democratically” re-elected after initially coming to power through a coup d’état. It is a country characterized by poverty and inequality, where 40% of citizens live in conditions of extreme poverty (UN HDR) and approximately 10-20% of citizens live under conditions of slavery (CNN). Thus, I came to doubt the capacity of EITI reports to mobilize an educated civil society to lobby government institutions or extractive industries for increased transparency or efficient redistribution of resource wealth to the communities from where the resources were extracted. Instead, I got the impression that achieving compliant status in EITI was a way for the Mauritanian government to legitimize its rule by demonstrating a desire to be more transparent, for the extractive industries to show that they are making and recording their payments, and for the international EITI community to perceive Mauritania as a country that complies with international norms and encourages citizens to voice their opinions and interests. In a country where such large percentages of the citizenry live in poverty and suffer from repression, it is difficult to believe that EITI reports mobilize any civil society opposition to or regulation of the resource extraction industry.

On the other hand, upon looking into the case of Mongolia, my optimism has been restored with regards to the importance of EITI implementation. As a newly established democracy, it is important to publish all natural resource revenue information so that the citizenry (particularly civil society organizations) can hold the government accountable if this revenue happens to disappear and is never invested into the provision of social services. Mining makes up approximately 20% of Mongolia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a number which continues to grow year after year. As a result, poverty levels are rapidly decreasing, down more than 11% just between 2010 and 2012 (European Commission MIP for Mongolia, 2014-2020). Even though EITI did not mention Mongolia as one of the countries in which subnational reporting might be relevant, it is difficult to ignore the fact that Mongolia would be a perfect pilot for such a project. This is owing to the fact that Mongolia has a literacy rate of 100%, a growing number of civil society organizations and NGOs, as well as an increasingly democratic identity among its citizenry. Considering the fact that many provinces (aimags) and far more districts (sums) have been transformed due to the resource extraction taking place there, these aimags and sums deserve the opportunity to see exactly how much wealth is being extracted from their land and in turn, to demand greater provision of important social services (like schools, hospitals, transit, etc.) to increase their quality of life and level of development. I strongly believe that Mongolia has the potential to lead the way in the implementation of subnational reporting in the EITI, and that this might truly benefit its citizens.