Practitioners and Advocates Promote the Power of Information in Global Development

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STOCKHOLM—Public disclosure and public engagement can transform development strategy into social change, a group of international communications and governance experts told leaders gathered today at the annual European Development Days conference.

The panel of transparency activists, policy analysts and members of parliament explained to the international audience how effective communications can strengthen transparency and accountability in donor-financed programs, as well as in the management of revenues from the extractive industries.

"The goal of the Development Days conference is to make aid more effective, which means more than dispensing money," said panel moderator Anki Wood, incoming communications officer for the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner. "The same can be said of communications: It means more than providing information; it means creating opportunities to engage."

Participants brought a range of experiences and national contexts to the discussion. Liberian activist Alfred Brownell recently helped his country become the first African nation designated "compliant" with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Participants also included Auditor General of Zambia Anna O. Chifungula and Swedish members of parliament Bodil Ceballos and Christian Holm.

Panelist David Isaakson of Global Reporting, one of the event's co-hosts, said, "When the public has the tools to interact with leaders and policymakers, government and donors alike realize they must treat citizens as partners, and not merely as a passive audience."

"Decisions about budgets or revenues from oil and mineral resources often take place outside public scrutiny," said panelist Antoine Heuty of the Revenue Watch Institute. "When finance and revenue management processes are made visible, it gives regular citizens the knowledge to ask the right questions, and helps them see that they have a voice and a role in their countries' governance, industry and development."

"Development programs can also benefit from efficient methods developed by the private sector," said panelist Per Tjernberg of BearingPoint Management & Technology consulting firm, "methods which ensure results, control over costs and transparency."

To learn more about Development Days events, please go to: http://www.eudevdays.eu.

CONTACTS:
Julia Björne, Global Reporting, +46 704 32 81 45 (Sweden)
Jed Miller, +1 917 257-0670, jmiller@revenuewatch.org (US)