“The community of learning and practice creates a neutral space for understanding and learning simultaneously…(it) has been a success because we designed it with the members from the beginning.”
– Miguel Cervantes Rodríguez
Often, in countries where extractive industries are an important sector of the economy, weak governance leads to the regrettable mismanagement of natural resources. Some causes of this are inadequate laws and regulations to prevent corruption and a gaping lack of accountability for malpractices in this sector. Compounding the problem is the complexity of the supply chain, with a diversity of actors and stakeholders often crossing far beyond country boundaries.
The consequences of weak governance in extractive industries are far-reaching. Governments lose out on potential revenue that could be used to invest in public services, such as health and education. The benefits of mineral resource wealth are often concentrated in the hands of a small group of (corrupt) elites, which further widens the gap between rich and poor. And when persistent corrupt practices cause the social contract to break and trust between stakeholders is eroded, it can lead to instability and conflict.
The Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption (LTRC) initiative, a joint effort between the Brookings Institution and Results for Development (R4D) from 2017 to 2023, utilizes a systems approach to advance practices to reduce corruption along the natural resource value chain, globally and in-country. The program builds platforms in support of stakeholder collaboration, brokers connections and promotes research to bridge knowledge gaps, and consolidates learning to enable piloting of local solutions. As a result, our work cultivates evidence-informed interventions using multistakeholder strategies that complement any pre-existing transparency, accountability, and participatory (TAP) efforts.
Informing and co-creating country anti-corruption efforts
The LTRC project has had a significant impact at the country level. In Mongolia, R4D’s work informed beneficial ownership legislation and monitoring under the country’s national anti-corruption strategy. The Mongolian government and its different partner organizations are using analysis and recommendations developed by LTRC to enhance its beneficial ownership transparency framework. They are also inviting other international organizations to support the implementation.
“The Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption (LTRC) initiative has done a lot in increasing awareness on beneficial owners and the use of the database; what the government is facing right now; and what they need to do in the future. They have conducted research in Mongolia […] which has provided useful recommendations. The government of Mongolia is using LTRC’s research to improve the transparency and efficiency of the beneficial ownership register.”
– Tegshbayar Darambazar, Advisor, Transparency International Mongolia
In Peru, R4D responded to feedback from local stakeholders in the Moquegua mining region by building a Community of Learning and Practice that allows them to actively and regularly engage in implementing the country’s Mining Vision 2030 and the Regional Development Plan. The growing community is an example of how R4D is working to build more transparent and accountable systems in the natural resource sector. By bringing together more than 20 different stakeholders from different sectors and using research to close knowledge gaps, it is helping to ensure that diverse voices are heard, trust is built between stakeholders, and that decisions are made in the best interests of the community.
“The fact that the Community of Learning is initiated by an international NGO promotes the independence needed for such an initiative. It has helped to build trust among stakeholders in the mining sector at the regional level and encouraged the evaluation and advancement of mining initiatives in the region.”
– Miguel Inchaustegui, Former Minister of Mines
In 2019, an R4D-organized workshop in Nigeria identified a deeply held lack of confidence in the possibility of change among local stakeholders, causing citizen apathy towards anticorruption efforts. To promote citizen awareness and accountability, R4D partnered with local organizations to build capacity for investigative journalism and storytelling as tools, focusing on under-researched extractive topics. This work helped to generate access and awareness on themes such as corruption in oil revenue and the dangers of abandoned mining sites amid an environment of mistrust and uncertainty.
In Colombia, LTRC funded a project on applying the Natural Resource Governance Institute’s (NRGI) extractive industries corruption diagnostic to the hydrocarbon sector in the municipalities of Tauramena and Maní, in the department of Casanare. With technical backstopping from NRGI and local leadership from Colombian organization Crudo Transparente, LTRC supported the development of the corruption diagnostic tool and action plan for the oil sector in Colombia, the first time the tool was adapted and used at the subnational level. The resulting guide has been used in interactions with the Ministry of Energy and members of local communities.guide has been used in interactions with the Ministry of Energy and members of local communities.
“Our engagement with R4D under the LTRC initiative has enabled us to establish contact and build bridges with key industry players who were skeptical of working with non-governmental organizations.”
– Crudo Transparente’s Álvaro Jiménez Millan
Driving research and informing discussion agendas on NRG issues globally
At the global level, the LTRC project has worked to inform the global agenda on the future of natural resource governance (NRG), based on responses from 400 worldwide participants of a survey and an expert dialogue series. This line of work highlighted the need for bold new thinking and audacious action to address corruption in the NRG sector. Altogether, the key takeaway from our work showcases the urgent need for coalitions that generate and drive more inclusive systems locally and a global learning community that connects research and action between local, national, and global levels.
Before, as the result of a comprehensive evidence review, LTRC developed the TAP-Plus framework, which has been used to identify implementation gaps and other bottlenecks in reducing corruption and strengthening governance of natural resources in countries around the world. The framework considers contextual factors such as rule of law, civic space, trust, and conflict in the design of TAP strategies.
Promising approaches to local challenges through collaboration
The LTRC initiative is an important example of how global, national, and local cooperation can be used to address the challenges of corruption and promote sustainable development. The initiative’s successes to date are a testament to the power of collaboration and the importance of working together to build a more transparent and accountable natural resources sector that drives development outcomes for all.
LTRC has spotlighted the need for audacity in the NRG field and several of its successes have highlighted what can be achieved if scaled up. Based on LTRC’s work, the BHP Foundation, invited R4D to develop a new program to continue building on the learnings of the program. The new initiative, coined the Governance Action Hub, will be announced shortly. It aims to promote and nurture a network of local alliances for collective action to improve governance and reduce corruption in extractive-dependent countries, while building a global learning community. This opportunity allows R4D to further the organization’s mission of supporting change agents around the world to create self-sustaining systems that strengthen knowledge, capacity, and development, building on LTRC’s impact.
