A new organization, known as Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), has been formed to champion the push for transparency in extractive industries and global governance reforms in natural resources. This is the result of a recent merger between the Revenue Watch Institute and the Natural Resource Charter.
Mr. Daniel Kaufmann, President of the NRGI announced the birth of the new organization, describing it as “the start of an exciting new chapter of our work to help people benefit from their countries’ endowments of oil, gas and minerals.”
According to Kaufmann, “Both of the predecessor organizations, in collaboration with their partners, have made crucial contributions to the global push for transparency and improved governance in the extractive industries.”
He said the organization, which has over 70 staff around the globe, is proudly bringing “the research strength, unfettered independence, field-based expertise, intellectual firepower, and innovative approaches needed to take our work to the next level.”
Kaufman pledged that the new organization would make a difference in the countries where it operates, and champion global governance reforms in natural resources.
He explained that the new organization places a lot of importance in its multi-stakeholder approach, with an open space for dialogue between all actors. He said: “We bring to these coalitions an intellectual foundation: the Natural Resource Charter framework, which alongside a number of other innovative tools and initiatives strengthens our concrete support to civil society actors, governments, parliaments, media, youth, and the private sector.”
NRGI was billed to have its first official outing in June 2014 in Washington, DC, the United States, where along with Global Witness and the Brookings Institution, will host US Senator Ben Cardin and a panel discussion about the global push for mandatory disclosure of payments in extractive industries.
Also in June, NRGI staff and many sector experts and partners from producing countries will convene at Oxford University in the United Kingdom to discuss the application and policy implications of the Natural Resource Charter.
Kaufmann promised that many more initiatives will take place under the new NRGI flag in the months that follow, including at its Africa and Latin America regional hub trainings.
He said NRGI would soon be sharing details of its new five-year strategy, which will guide the work of the organization and where partnerships will play an important role.
