Contracts & licenses

From presidential coups to new constitutions, our second documentary on Niger offers a quick snapshot of the political environment Publish What You Pay activists have faced over the past few years. It focusses on how the debate over natural resources has evolved, the treatment of Publish What You Pay activists under President Tandja's autocratic regime and their role in establishing a new level of openness in the country -- notably enshrining natural resource transparency as a key principle in Niger's new constitution.

Eastern and Southern Africa Meeting

You can also view this declaration in PDF.

8 – 11 May. Maputo, Mozambique.

We, as coalition members of Publish What You Pay from 12 Eastern and Southern African countries, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, met under the auspices of Publish What You Pay (PWYP), on the theme of moving from transparency to accountability.

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Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo might be one of the world’s richest countries in natural resources, but its population ranks among the poorest with four out of five citizens living on less than 30 cents a day.

London: Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* welcomes the news that Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has signed a new transparency law which increases accountability over the management of the country’s natural resources.

Approved on 10 July 2009, the LEITI Act seeks to ensure that the benefits due to the government and people of Liberia from the exploitation of natural resources are “verifiably paid or provided; duly accounted for; and prudently utilized for the benefits of all Liberians….”

For the first time in the history of modern Azerbaijan, the State Oil Company has signed two oil development deals “in the dark,” without public notice of its negotiations with the foreign companies involved, and without the traditional public contract signing ceremony.

The Azerbaijan NGO Coalition is alarmed by this backwards step in the country’s excellent tradition of oil contract transparency. This incident may demonstrate the beginning of a dangerous trend in the preparation and signing of extractive industry contracts.

London: Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Gabon Coordinator Marc Ona Essangui has won the prestigious international Goldman Environmental Prize, which is often awarded to individuals who take significant personal risks to protect the environment and local communities.