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Corruption in the extractive industries is one of the biggest obstacles to the accountable and sustainable management of natural resources. While EITI has the potential to contribute toward the fight against corruption, the initiative is falling short in realizing this potential in many countries.

NRGI’s new memo details recommendations for EITI to strengthen its relevance for anticorruption efforts. This memo builds on a review of EITI disclosures from around the world conducted by NRGI, the findings of which are summarized in a February 2021 report titled How Can Anticorruption Actors Use EITI Disclosures?.

The memo is structured around three recommendations:

• Recommendation 1. Strengthen EITI reporting to document corruption-related information. EITI multi-stakeholder groups (MSGs) can do more to ensure EITI disclosures contain information that is relevant to anticorruption efforts.
• Recommendation 2. Ensure anticorruption actors use EITI disclosures to advance anticorruption efforts. Efforts to strengthen reporting must be coupled with measures to ensure anticorruption actors use EITI disclosures to advance accountability.
• Recommendation 3. Reinforce EITI processes, responsibilities and activities to support the initiative’s enhanced anticorruption focus.

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While the exact way forward will vary from country to country, it is important to remember that basic scattered improvements will do little to fundamentally strengthen the initiative’s relevance to anticorruption. In most countries, what is needed is a package of ambitious, high-impact changes to the nature and use of reporting, including partnerships with external actors who can analyze disclosures and hold extractive sector actors accountable.

Many EITI stakeholders already show a determination to contribute more actively to anticorruption efforts. NRGI believes that by building on practical examples from EITI implementation around the world, the initiative can advance genuine change. This memo can support these efforts.