Corruption through opaque public contracts costs Africa billions of revenue loss annually. Initiatives around the world have consequently concentrated on information disclosure (ID) as a means to address this problem.
But under what conditions does ID work to promote accountability in the extractive sector, where revenue management has long been a major cause of conflict?
Research on Mozambique from the Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) research programme has found that there has to be a clear link between ID and government reputation (and potential fall from power), for accountability to be possible. This has major implications for the strategies of ID supporters.
Related resources
- Read the Working Paper associated with this briefing, entitled ‘Sound of One Hand Clapping: Information Disclosure for Social and Political Action for Accountability in Extractive Governance in Mozambique‘
- Blog by John Gaventa ‘Can transparency make extractive industries more accountable?‘
