Mauritania: Strengthening Civil Society Capacity in the EITI Process

In 2006, with support from the World Bank's Development Grant Facility and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, RWI provided funding to the Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF) in Mauritania.

The project objectives were to educate Mauritanian civil society organizations about the principles of the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign and encourage their active involvement in the EITI process through trainings, increased public awareness about the benefits of revenue transparency and building the capacity of local groups to analyze national oil revenue information.

Project activities included events such as public information and awareness days; a national scientific symposium on Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative; meetings with the environmental defense groups and coastal fishermen groups—as the environmental impact of oil development in Mauritania is of crucial importance to local NGOs—and a national workshop to train private and public media.
Mauritania was among the youngest oil producers in Africa and was at a crucial time in the development of its extractive industries sector to support civil society as it developed new models to help the nation avoid the mistakes of its less transparent neighbors.

For more information on the activities of Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille, please see www.afcf.rim-asso.org/.