PWYP International Conference 2009

Download the conference statements from civil society

Download the conference evaluation form

The PWYP International Conference took place from November 16 – 18, 2009 in Montreal, Canada. The conference was organised by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), PWYP Canada, and PWYP International.

Conference Objectives

The conference had three key objectives:

• To provide a forum for dialogue and engagement between civil society and Canadian actors, including government agencies, the private sector and regulatory authorities. Through this dialogue, coalition membership were able to a) gain a better understanding of the role of Canadian actors in promoting and supporting revenue transparency efforts at home and abroad and b) get an overview of various Northern country approaches to promoting transparency. Choosing Canada as the country in which to hold this conference recognised the significant place Canada and Canadian companies hold in the extractive sector.

• To offer space for the coalition to reflect and review progress made towards achieving transparency objectives, as well as to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the future. Here, delegates assessed the relationship to and role of the EITI in a broader transparency lens, and received an update on country progress toward EITI implementation. With the EITI validation deadline looming, we also discussed the implications for countries of passing or failing validation and strived to reach consensus as civil society on our position vis-a-vis different validation deadline scenarios and the future of EITI. We also fleshed out new areas of interest and built knowledge of such issues. For instance, there is growing interest in contract transparency, on which we sought to foster information exchange in this forum, including by offering a training module on how to use publicly available information to better understand extractive industry contracts. We also shared experiences on mandatory disclosure initiatives that PWYP is pushing at national, regional and international levels. The discussions were designed to exchange lessons-learned, as well as facilitate dialogue across coalitions in order to improve campaigning across countries and regions.

• To evaluate how to continue strengthening, reinforcing and broadening civil society participation in the global movement for transparency in the extractive industries and how to protect civil society actors when faced with threats and intimidation. Participants exchanged views on governance structures and agreed that there should be an on-going dialogue during the coming year about this issue, which will be coordinated by PWYP international.

Participants

The first day of the conference was open to civil society as well as invited government and company participants. The second and third days of the conference were for civil society only.

Conference Languages

The conference provided simultaneous interpretation in three languages: English, French and Spanish. Presentations were made in any of these languages.

Conference Venue

Hyatt Regency Montreal
1255 Jeanne-Mance, PO Box 130,
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H5B 1E5
Tel: +1 514 982 1234 Fax: +1 514 285 1243

Read the final conference communiqué here.

Supporting donors

The conference was organised by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), PWYP Canada, and PWYP International. We are most grateful for the support provided by the following principle donors:

• Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
• CARE International UK
• CORDAID
• Global Witness
• Natural Resources Canada
• Open Society Institute
• Oxfam Novib
• Partnership Africa Canada
• Revenue Watch Institute

Download the donor thank you note which also lists organisations which provided important additional travel grants to civil society representatives from developing countries.

For information for the media, please click here

For all the final communiqués, conference presentations and photos please click here