This $31.1 billion, which enters the country as an economic benefit for the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources, will be distributed as designated in the SGR, and of this amount, $10.1 billion will be allocated to the country’s departments and regions for the approval of high regional impact projects; $3.4 billion will finance projects in science, technology and innovation; $3.4 billion will finance projects to stabilize and transform the territories most affected by violence, poverty, illicit economies and institutional weakness. (see budget distribution).

According to Mapa Inversiones, so far in 2023, 3,827 SGR projects have been approved, with an investment of $5 trillion, of which $284 billion have already been executed, in different sectors such as: agriculture, culture, transportation, science, technology and innovation, among others.

To better monitor these projects, organizations such as Transparencia por Colombia have mapped, promoted and provided different tools to promote higher levels of transparency and access to information in the extractive sector. Among these tools are
INFOBPIN
a technological platform where you can track the identification number of royalty investment projects (BPIN) ( See more tools here).

In addition, the country has been able to make progress in different areas such as social investment or even the construction of tertiary roads, with the use of royalties. Colombia has known initiatives that stand out for the good use and management of these resources, such as the interconnection of ancestral roads by the U’wa community in Boyacá or at the University of Caldas, with a project on biotechnology for waste utilization.

In this regard, the National Planning Department (DNP) and the Universidad del Rosario have an initiative that measures the best projects in the country and the best entities, respectively, within these six categories stand out as: Closing Gaps, Innovation and Orange Economy, Sustainable Income Generation, Environmental Sustainability, Regional Integration and Health Emergency Mitigation. All with a positive impact on the regions.

Another face

Despite the positive impact of the General Royalties System in the regions, corruption has also permeated these monies that belong to Colombians.

For example, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic found losses in the resources of the General Royalties System in the Department of Magdalena for $26,520 million due to lack of planning, as well as non-compliance in auditing activities and undelivered works, in an audit carried out in 2021, according to information published on the entity’s web page.

In addition to this, this same entity also found that between 2012 and 2017, about $840,000 million of fiscal incidence in royalty resources were reported, i.e. “works at risk of generating losses for this figure”.

And these scandals have also reached the national media, such as one that came to light in June of last year related to the OCAD Paz. Blu Radio denounced serious irregularities that would have been related to the allocation of these resources and where it is estimated, according to the media, that $500 billion were lost in bribe payments. Among those involved are, paradoxically, officials of the Comptroller’s Office, as well as officials of the DNP and different contractors and congressmen.

Camilo Vallejo, coordinator of the Transparency Observatory of the University of Manizales, assures that the loss of this public money is serious, and even worse, that entities such as the Comptroller’s Office sometimes fall short in their function. He also assures that as long as there is no sanction against the corrupt, there will be no significant progress.

It also warns about how entities that manage these resources do not comply with disclosing quality information or uploading it completely to the different platforms for citizen control. “We have found royalty projects that appeared blank. The government has many strategies, but does not comply with them, they believe that transparency is not relevant,” he comments.

Although, as Camilo mentions, there are information disclosure strategies on investments with royalty resources, for him, these fall short and he assures that beyond the strategies, there must be a commitment of the entities with transparency, and explains that public information must go beyond telling who was assigned the contract, and tell citizens the public information of these projects.

The deficiency in information, the limitations for citizen control of the resources destined to some projects, says Camilo, limits the role of citizens, who, although they are aware of these resources, encounter barriers when they want to access information and consult it in a transparent manner.

The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries works on the follow-up and strengthening of transparency mechanisms in the General Royalties System – SGR, seeking to ensure that the objectives of transparency, oversight and access to public information are maintained at the highest level, as well as the effective participation of citizens in the approval and follow-up process of projects financed with royalty resources.

For more information write to: secretariatecnica@transparenciacolombia.org.co

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The Mesa welcomed its selection by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as an organization that contributes to the region’s development.

The Mesa de la Sociedad Civil para la Transparencia en las Industrias Extractivas brings together more than 26 organizations at the national level, with the vision of generating a consolidated and strong civil society movement with a high degree of influence in the public and private sector related to the Extractive Industries in Colombia. With this, it seeks to fulfill its mission to achieve higher levels of transparency, citizen participation, accountability processes and access to public information in the Colombian extractive sector.

For its work, the Mesa has been included in the IDB’s WiConnect platform, which seeks to provide access to grant information, call for proposals, frontier information on the sector, as well as to support the organization by making it visible to donors, other specialists and organizations working in Latin America and the Caribbean. This recognition encourages us to continue working towards transparency and strengthening the participation of civil society from our strategic lines on issues related to EITI, royalties and access to information on environmental issues.

Link on WiCoonect: https://bit.ly/3KDtdyU

For more information, please write to: secretariatecnica@transparenciacolombia.org.co

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The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in Industries Extractive presents to the general public the Civic Space in Colombia Report (2019-2022) presented in the framework of the EITI 2022 validation, which concludes that difficulties, risks, restrictions and alarms persist in the generation of an enabling environment for the effective participation of citizens in the governance of their natural resources, and shows how socio-environmental conflicts and violence in the context in which extractive industries operate generate fear and resistance on the part of civil society to exercise control, dialogue and use information from EITI reports in public decision-making processes. It also presents the document of EITI Colombia’s assessments and recommendations to EITI Colombia on 6 priority issues for civil societywith the The purpose of addressing the demands, needs and opportunities for improvement in the implementation of the standard in the country, so that these can be reflected in the National Action Plan (NAP) in the next term of the EITI Colombia process.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (
EITI
) is a global standard that promotes open and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources, and seeks to strengthen the governance of natural resources in the Colombian extractive sector. In our country, through a tripartite dialogue table, EITI Colombia seeks to consolidate relations and generate quality information by means of an articulated work between private companies, government and civil society. To this end, reports and some thematic studies on the management of emerging resources in the value chain of this industry are published annually, based on 7 requirements:

In 2022, the second EITI validation process began in Colombia. This process is a mechanism in which the country is assessed on its ability to comply with the provisions of the EITI Standard and the quality assurance of the information reported. Following the guidelines established by EITI at the international level for this purpose, the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries developed two key inputs to support its positions and the situation that citizens have historically faced in terms of access to information, participation and the search for transparency in the extractive industry.

The first document emerged from the work of the Mesa’s EITI subcommittee, in which 6 priority themes were selected based on the experiences of different civil society organizations at the national level. Based on them, research work was initiated to diagnose and evaluate key aspects, their progress and opportunities for improvement. Thus, in each of these items, a series of recommendations were formulated to address the gaps identified and strengthen the implementation of EITI in Colombia. Several of these recommendations were related to issues such as: disaggregation of data, institutional articulation, improvement of CTN governance mechanisms, use of clear language, implementation of a differential approach, development of training and advocacy strategies, adaptation to citizens’ demands for information, importance of a socio-environmental context and, especially, the inclusion of priority issues for civil society in the preparation of the next NAP.

The second is a detailed report on the status of Civic Space in Colombia, during the period 2019-2022, which was developed with the support and funding from

Publish What You Pay

-a global civil society network of which the Mesa is a member. This report is of great importance for the validation process, as it evaluates each component of the EITI Civil Society Protocol.
EITI Protocol for Civil Society
(expression, operation, association, participation, access to public decision making, available documentation) in Colombia. This document gathers interventions from Mesa organizations, external social organizations, grassroots communities, academia and experts. In this paper, the importance of placing greater emphasis on understanding the context experienced by communities and social leaders living in areas of influence of extractive operations is exposed, since, in practice, risks, fears and warnings are evident for their effective participation in decision-making scenarios, despite the existence of legal frameworks that provide that there must be legal guarantees in these scenarios. Since there are no spaces for debate, there is no use of the EITI information, therefore, recommendations are made, among others, to include the socio-environmental context, ensure the implementation of the Protocol for Civil Society, elaborate a protection strategy for social leaders, encourage the participation of ethnic communities and civil society organizations that are not members of the Mesa.

The Working Group invites you to read and use the information contained in these documents to reflect on the role of the EITI in the protection and promotion of citizen participation, the challenges of strategies for access and use of information, and the generation of spaces for dialogue and informed debate and its impact on the country.

About the Table

In the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries we promote citizen participation and access to information, with a platform of more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions from different regions of the country, which jointly carry out research, advocacy and citizen control activities regarding transparency in the extractive sector.

• Analysis of the civic space in Colombia within the framework of the EITI 2022 Validation process.
• Assessment and recommendations of priority issues for civil society EITI Validation 2022.

For more information, please write to: secretariatecnica@transparenciacolombia.org.co

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The meeting began with a presentation by Noel Murray (executive director of Directorio Legislativo) of the “Joining The Dots” project, which seeks to explore information on the assets of public officials; public contracting; and tenders in the extractive sector, in order to identify possible conflicts of interest, corruption or improper use of public office. Murray was accompanied by Mark Robinson, EITI executive director, and Francisco París, EITI director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

This presentation, in addition to the participation of the Mesa’s social organizations, included interventions by Claudia Báez, a journalist from Cuestión Pública, and the data expert organization Datasketch, who positively valued the effort of cross-checking data to find possible conflicts of interest of public officials in the extractive sector. A webcast of this presentation can be found on the Bureau’s Facebook page.

Subsequently, a panel was held on the progress of the Subnational EITI, in which the Technical Secretariat of EITI Colombia presented the current status of the implementation of the EITI standard in the prioritized territories: Boyacá, Casanare, Cesar and Santander. On the civil society side, ABC Colombia and the CSIR Cesar participated, commenting on the views from their territories on the processes being carried out in the formation of the local committees.

Francisco París, for his part, highlighted the role of civil society in the EITI standard validation process that Colombia will begin in the second half of the year. “You are going to be consulted, that’s part of the spirit of the standard. There will be many opportunities to hear your voice in the validation. And the best of luck for Colombia to do justice to your efforts,” he said.

Presentations were also made on the Anti-Corruption Legal Advice Center (ALAC) and the initiative on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection in the context of extractive sector operations, by the Transparency for Colombia corporation.

The meeting culminated with an intervention by the organizations representing civil society before the National Tripartite Committee, which, together with the government and the private sector, coordinates actions for the continuation of the work within the framework of the EITI initiative. These are Crudo Transparente, Fundación Atabaque and Transparencia por Colombia.

The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries emerged in 2013 and currently brings together more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions from different parts of the country. Its objective is to seek higher levels of transparency and access to public information in the Colombian extractive sector.

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Given the alarming situation of those who defend the environment in Colombia and the lack of guarantees in the protection of ecosystems, as well as the barriers that prevent effective citizen participation in environmental decision making, the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries
*
requests the Congress of the Republic to ratify the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean(Escazú Agreement).), doing so will be an important and positive step towards ensuring the sustainable development of the country, based on respect for the planet or the Common House, with a focus on human rights, social justice and citizen participation, as well as guaranteeing the right to life of environmental leaders.

In this sense, and as organizations that seek transparency in extractive regions, we insist on the ratification of Escazú. This treaty is a vital tool for regulating environmental rights in three main aspects: Access to Information, Citizen Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. Not ratifying it would be a sign of a Congress that lacks will and prevents the country from complying with this commitment in the framework of compliance with the protection of human rights and respect for the lives of those who protect the environment.

Since 2019, within the framework of the Great National Conversation, the Colombian government signed the Agreement before the United Nations. In 2020 it was submitted with a message of urgency by President Iván Duque, and in 2021 it was again submitted to Congress due to pressure from social and environmental groups.

However, since its filing, the bill to ratify the regional treaty has made little progress in the current Congress; only two public hearings were held in 2021. Furthermore, despite its urgency message in 2020, it did not even make it to the first debate, even though it was on the agenda of the Second Committee.

In view of these delaying actions -which show the lack of commitment before the international community- and despite the fact that there are only a few weeks left in the last legislative period of the Government of Iván Duque, the Government’s opposition managed to set the agenda for the discussion of the Escazú Agreement in the Second Committee of the Senate for April 26, 2022.

We insist on the urgency of incorporating this treaty into our legislation, a tool that we hope will allow us to work towards ceasing to be the most dangerous country in the world for environmental leaders and thereby reduce the extreme vulnerability of ecologists, indigenous peoples and environmental defenders in Colombia. As indicated by the international report of Global Witness, by 2020, 65 murders of environmental defenders were recorded and in 2021, 56 homicides have already been counted, placing us for the second consecutive year as the most dangerous country in the world for environmental leaders.

It is worth mentioning that in January 2022 the first murder of an environmental defender was a minor; a member of the indigenous reservation Las Delicias (Cauca), whose voice was extinguished. Likewise, the Investigation and Indictment Unit of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace – JEP warned in recent weeks that the department of Santander is where most threats against environmental leaders are registered.

Let this be the opportunity to request as the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries, that the commitment to strengthen transparency and accountability in the management of the extractive sectors through the implementation of the EITI Standard be fulfilled. The agreement was signed by Colombia in 2018 and is expected to be validated in 2022.

Finally, we recall that ratifying the Escazú Agreement brings us closer to ethical codes and consensus for the construction of the common good, and shows that Congress is on the side of the vast majority of citizens who expect greater guarantees for access to a decent life in Colombia.

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Bogotá, February 26, 2022

On February 25, the XXV Meeting of the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries was held to discuss key issues for the promotion of transparency and access to information in the extractive sector and citizen participation in the implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Colombia.

The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries is an instance that emerged in November 2013 and today brings together more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions, located in different parts of the country.

New members

At its XXV meeting, held virtually, the new organizations joining the Roundtable were formally presented: NRGI and the Corporación Cívica de Caldas, as well as the reactivation of the Comité de Seguimiento a la Inversión de las Regalías de Córdoba (CISR).

The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) is an independent international non-profit organization. NRGI helps people reap the benefits of their countries’ natural resource wealth, oil, gas and minerals through applied research and capacity building approaches and technical advice.

The Corporación Cívica de Caldas is a civil society organization with 40 years of experience, whose mission is to defend the collective interest in the department of Caldas. Its work includes social control through citizen oversight, monitoring of extractive projects and community accompaniment.

Diagnostic guide to corruption in the extractive sector

During the Meeting, NRGI presented to the Bureau the “Diagnostic Guide to Corruption in the Extractive Sector, a tool for research and action”. This is a participatory methodology that seeks to diagnose corruption in the extractive industries to support evidence-based actions to address this issue.

In addition, the organization Crudo Transparente presented its progress in the implementation of the guide, focused on building participatory strategies to reduce corruption risks in the Colombian oil sector.

Balance

During the Meeting, there was also a reflection on the challenges and progress of the action plans of the Subcommittees of the Roundtable, namely: General Royalties System, EITI and Environmental Affairs, as well as the Communications Committee.

Finally, the representatives to the National Tripartite Committee presented the current status of the EITI validation process in Colombia, which is scheduled to take place over the next few months.

“The La Mesa session ended with very good results. We have an action plan to promote the participation of civil society in the validation of the EITI in the country,” explained Pilar Acosta, project coordinator of Transparency for Colombia and member of the Technical Secretariat of the Roundtable. “That is why this year we plan to meet in priority territories, such as Casanare and Cesar,” he added.

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Transparencia por Colombia, with the support of the Open Society Foundations, Ford Foundation and the Mesa de la
Civil Society for Transparency in the Extractive Industries, facilitated a public dialogue on the
challenges of the Reform to the General Royalties System ─SGR─ around participation issues,
transparency and accountability. This dialogue will be moderated by Claire Launay, Director
Program of Initiatives with Civil Society of Transparencia por Colombia.
This space was attended by six invited panelists from civil society (most of whom were from
they are members of the Mesa de la Sociedad Civil para la Transparencia en las Industrias
Extractive). The organizations represented by the guests work or are interested in the System.
General de Regalías. Three of them are representatives of regional organizations, as follows:
1. Marcela Vega Saavedra. Director of Education for Governance. Scholarship Holders Association
of Casanare ─ABC Casanare. Representative of ABC Casanare in the Civil Society Roundtable
for Transparency in the Extractive Industries.
2. Astrid Navarro. Coordinator of Responsibility and Social Projection of the Valledupar branch of
CSIR Cesar. Cesar Royalties Follow-up Committee. Member of the Board of the Society
Civil Society for Transparency in the Extractive Industries.
Juan Pablo Remolina. Executive Director of ProSantander.
And three of them belong to national organizations:
4. Fabio Velasquez. Advisor to the Executive Chairmanship of the National Forum for the
Colombia. Member of the Mesa de la Sociedad Civil para la Transparencia de las Industrias
Extractive.
5. Daniel Castillo Camacho. Economist of Crudo Transparente. Member organization of the
Mesa de la Sociedad Civil para la Transparencia de las Industrias Extractivas y representante
to the EITI National Tripartite Committee.
6. Andrés Hernández. Executive Director of Transparencia por Colombia. Technical Secretariat of
the Mesa de la Sociedad Civil para la Transparencia de las Industrias Extractivas (Civil Society Roundtable for Extractive Industries Transparency).
The objective of this virtual discussion was to foster a constructive and public dialogue that would allow for
to recognize the main challenges of the General Royalties System at the current juncture. The above with the
to make recommendations to improve accountability, transparency and participation.
in the system. This thematic trio was the key to the development of this space.

Introduction
Andres Hernandez: In 2013, together with other entities interested in strengthening the
transparency within the SGR, the creation of the Civil Society Round Table for the
Transparency in the Extractive Industries. Within the framework of the SGR reform, the Bureau has reviewed the
documents related to the reform of the SGR, including Legislative Act 05 of December 26, 2005.
2019 (the act introducing the reform) and the drafts of the bill regulating the reform.
reform. The reform is an opportunity to strengthen, broaden and improve the levels of
transparency, accountability and citizen participation. Therefore, the following issues have been addressed
following topics:

1. The background of the royalty resources: The proper use of these resources can favor
the country’s development. It can close the social inequality gaps that exist in the country.
This will give meaning to both the reform and the management of royalty resources.
2. Strengthen the principles for transparency and access to public information: Although the principles of transparency and access to public information are
Colombia has made progress in access to information mechanisms derived from the Law on Access to Information.
1712 of 2014, it is necessary to continue working to strengthen access to information.
especially in royalty issues. Improving access to public information will allow
to provide much more effective monitoring and surveillance.
3. Presence of instances and guarantees of participation in the approval stages of the
projects financed with royalty resources: it is important to have the presence and participation
effective participation of the beneficiaries of the royalty resources in the formulation of the projects. This
to ensure that the projects are more closely linked to the needs of the population and to the
local and regional development needs.
Generation of favorable conditions for citizen oversight: These are necessary for
generate more effective and solid dialogues between citizens in general and beneficiaries,
local and national authorities.
5. Strengthening Information Systems: It is necessary to improve the tools for
traceability in the use of resources. Although Colombia has a number of
information such as MapaRegalías and with initiatives such as EITI, there is a need for an
more effective traceability to be able to know how decisions are being made and how the
The use of these resources benefits the communities.
6. Strengthen the roles of those agencies in charge of the State control of the
operation of those extracting non-renewable resources: In this case, the National Agency for the
The National Mining Agency and the National Hydrocarbons Agency are the ones that carry out this activity. Yes
Although these entities have been working to expand these auditing processes, they still need to
consolidate, expand and strengthen.
7. Works for royalties: These should be articulated with territorial planning exercises.
The current context motivates us to reflect on and pay more attention to the royalty resources used
to contain the pandemic. A resource that will have to be recovered in an uncertain scenario for the
extractive sector, but is relevant for the financing of mining projects.
development at the national level.

First guiding question:
The development of this virtual discussion was articulated through three (3) guiding questions and
questions from the audience. As a result, and following the intervention of Andrés Hernández, Claire
Launay poses the following question to all the guests: What are the challenges in the area of
transparency, accountability and participation of the SGR reform?
With respect to transparency, Marcela Vega pointed out that tools such as MapaRegalías or SECOP
are difficult to handle and reach. This limits project-related decision making. Therefore
Therefore, the challenge is to educate and disseminate the tools so that the communities have greater access to them. It is also important that the websites of mayors’ and governors’ offices be updated with the latest information.
updated. These pages should be the first place where the citizen goes to, accesses, and
find the information.

In terms of accountability, the challenge is to make its mechanisms more inclusive and
that allow the participation of all population groups. It is necessary that all the
information arising from the accountabilities is published on the websites of the entities
and municipalities.

Fabio Velázquez indicates that in terms of participation, royalties face three major challenges:

1. Incorporate a democratic governance approach in the management of royalties and in general
in the extractive sector: This sector has a hierarchical management scheme. Governments
and local authorities and citizens are quite relegated and marginalized in the possibility
to participate in decision making.

The challenge is to ensure that this reform incorporates elements of democratic governance.
in the sense of promoting mechanisms and procedures for effective participation1 along
of the royalty cycle.

2. Create conditions for effective participation: To this end, the following conditions must be created
institutional type. These refer to the creation of instruments, devices and
procedures for the exercise of participation. It is necessary that the supply of information
is sufficient, relevant, valid, reliable and accessible to citizens who are interested in the
wish to make use of the right to participate. In order to achieve effective participation it is
necessary to finance participation. And that there be state initiatives for the promotion
of participation.

Also, social conditions must be created. These refer to the
empowerment of social actors and guarantees. On the one hand, these guarantees must be of
and security for those who follow up on royalty resources and/or for those who
those involved in making decisions that have to do with the use of the company’s resources.
royalties. On the other hand, they should be guarantees for expanding civic space. That is, for
ensure an environment and climate that facilitates citizen participation.

3. Achieving effective participation and transforming the sector’s governance model.
and the management of royalties: This challenge is more medium and long term, but it does not
less urgent. It consists of transforming the ways in which the State establishes a
interaction with citizens. This is because it is still thought that participation is a requirement
to be complied with so that it does not interfere with the development of the processes. It is necessary to change
this idea.

In addition, it is necessary to transform State structures through the incorporation of
practices that renew the actions of public entities. Initiatives such as EITI, Government
Open, Open Budget are some examples of programs that would help to modify
the ways in which the State deals with citizen participation issues.

1 For Fabio Velázquez, effective participation is a participation that includes and incorporates all stakeholders.
actors who must and want to participate. It is an informed participation, which is why access to information is important.
information. It is important that it is incident, that it has an effect on public decisions, and that it has an impact on the public’s decisions.
not only from the transformation of the State, but also from the actors themselves, in order to build
agreements on the use of royalties.

To the question, does this reform project address these three challenges? Fabio Velazquez
answers no. The explanation to this answer will be developed later along with some
observations and proposals to the reform.
Astrid Navarro points out that the SGR Reform has many gaps in terms of participation.
citizen. These gaps are potentiated when they are taken to the territories. The territories do not have
access to information, to telecommunication technology as the veedores have in
cities. The reform falls short and even more so for the territorial overseers.
The important thing is to strengthen municipal, co-municipal and even local participation. With the
The reform is expected to establish real participation mechanisms for these territories. The
veedurías do not receive any kind of resources to carry out their activities. Therefore, it is an issue
to be considered.
Also, it is important to understand that participation and transparency are not issues that arise in the context of a single company.
when the project is executed. The proposal is to guarantee the traceability of the participation from the
project formulation, contracting, implementation, and pre- and post-project evaluations.
the project has been completed. In this sense, the training of the overseers is very important. However,
The SGR reform does not include any of these elements that favor participation.
Juan Pablo Remolina mentions two major challenges:
1. Royalties in terms of participation, accountability and transparency: Talking about royalties
involves talking about the extraction of royalties and the expenditure of royalties. In the extraction, the following is evident
a lack of information on compliance with the agreements established with the State. Not enough
with knowing if they are paying what they should be paying. Is to know if they are complying with the standards
environmental, social, industrial, community relations, technical, among others. This
information is important. It must be measured and, above all, shown to the community.
There are two areas of royalty expenditure. The first: Calculation of the distribution
of royalties and audit resources. There must be transparency in both. The second area
focuses on investment. There are many concerns about the project approval process.
financed with royalties. Mapa Inversiones is a very valuable platform. She compiles
resources of Mapa Regalías projects, but it is necessary to have a dynamic, living platform, an
Facebook type of public investment. Nothing is done when working with static platforms,
with closed information and little use.
Reform challenges: In this part, there are three issues related to the expenditure of the resources of
royalties.
The elimination of the Collegiate Administrative and Decision-Making Bodies ─OCAD: The role.
of the OCADs is to seek multilevel governance, reduce corruption risks and increase
the quality of spending. Even today, it is difficult to guarantee that projects will meet the criteria or
necessary requirements. Without the OCADs, there is a risk of going backward in terms of
compliance with requirements to ensure the quality of spending.
The elimination of the Advisory Committees: It is not possible at this point in time to pretend to
decrease transparency and institutional participation in the approval of projects.
These spaces for participation cannot be reduced. The following should be strengthened and
necessary tools to make it happen. Citizen participation cannot be
only in the strategic part. It is also important that participation occurs in the review of the technical criteria, the location of the projects, in the approval and execution of the
projects financed with royalty resources. That is where there must be participation
citizen.
The Monitoring, Follow-up and Control System: The Project Management Index of
Royalties indicates that transparency in royalties has increased significantly in the last year.
time. This is because there is a suspension of turns. Failure to report will result in the suspension of the money orders.
Now, what will happen is that there will be no suspension of turns. This can mean a
setbacks in terms of royalty transparency.
Daniel Castillo Camacho It is very complex to think about eliminating the OCADs and not having a figure that would
replace. These bodies seek to provide greater citizen participation. They are the way in which
can be controlled and accounted for in a transparent manner.
Any mechanism or law that is created will not be exempt from the appearance of acts of corruption. By
Therefore, the main point is to achieve a transfer of knowledge and skills. This
will allow citizens to understand the importance of royalty resources and how these resources are used.
resources may be expressed in projects that meet the real needs of the territory. A
Once this transfer of knowledge and skills has been achieved, any mechanism for
participation, transparency or access to information will be effective. In this way
In parallel, it is necessary to promote, expand and strengthen mechanisms for citizen participation.

Questions from the audience:
1. For Crudo Transparente: How can you verify that the royalties are
used for local development?

Daniel Castillo Camacho responds that Crudo Transparente follows up on these cases on a monthly basis.
investments. The reports give an overview of how royalty resources are invested. Show
the amount of resources and in which sectors investments have been made. Last year (2019), Crudo
Transparente published the Quality Index of Royalty Projects, which shows the incidence of
such investments in the quality of life of the population. This index relates the investment
The company’s activities in each department are linked to the economic and social progress in each territory. In this way,
both the monthly report and the index are tools used by Crudo Transparente for
verify the use of royalties in both quality and quantity. All monthly reports
through May 2020 and the index published in October 2019, are available on the website of
Ecru Transparent.

2. Question for all the guests: What do you think about including in the Management Index measurement?
corruption factors and social impact?

Daniel Castillo Camacho The Management Index is elaborated by the National Department of
Planning─ DNP. It is aimed at the execution and administrative management of the System. This index does include
a transparency variable. Therefore, it could be said that this variable takes into account the
corruption.

Based on the experience gained in constructing the Royalty Project Quality Index, measuring the quality of the
influence of the projects is not easy. The nature of this Management Index, as it is purely administrative, may not allow for the inclusion of this variable. For this reason, the Transparent Oil index seeks to
measure social impact not as a variable but as a whole.
Astrid Navarro CSIR has analyzed the Transparent Crude Oil Index and all of the Measurement and
Performance of the SGR and DNP. This allowed us to identify that both indexes measure variables
quantitative. In other words, they do not take into account both positive and negative social impacts.
generated in the territories. For this reason, CSIR is working on a proposal that will
involves a pilot in the department of Cesar.

This pilot will include qualitative variables that will be collected through focus groups. This
The proposal will be made from the beginning of the projects financed with royalty resources. By
It should have a baseline of a community, then look at what the formulation process looks like,
and then measure the social impact of that project. This type of analysis is needed and is one
of the challenges that CSIR has set out to meet together with the civil society organizations that
would like to join this initiative.

Juan Pablo Remolina Every index should be designed to be applied to all units of
observation. In other words, the Project Management Index must measure more than 15,000 (fifteen thousand)
investment projects. So, it is very complex to determine the corruption in all of those
projects. Unless you have the necessary tools to do so.
3. Last question: Why does the reform propose to eliminate the OCADs and what could be the alternative?
to replace them?
Juan Pablo Remolina There are several hypotheses for its elimination:
1. The existence of unexecuted balances.
2. The OCADs generate unnecessary expenses for the National Government.
It is necessary to pay attention to the evidence that allows correcting the situation or the problem generated.
by the OCADs. Evidence indicates that there are entities with high approval rates. If the
The problem is the expense generated, other alternatives could be considered. However, it is necessary that the
The objective of the reform is to create a body that allows for multilevel governance, reduce risks, and
of corruption, which allows decisions to be taken jointly and which really ensures that the
for the quality of the investment. The OCADs have contributed to these elements. Eliminating them involves
return to the previous system where the approver and executor will be the same institution.

Second guiding question:
What is the influence of the current pandemic on the sector and the use of royalties?
Astrid Navarro The department of Cesar has a large amount of royalty resources, but at the same time, it has
The cross-checking of this with the relevance of the investment reveals the existence of municipalities with high needs.
unmet basic needs, a weak health care system to cope with the pandemic and high rates of
unemployment (as in Valledupar). This is the moment in which the rulers, the same people, the same
entities and all stakeholders can exert the necessary pressure to change the way in which
prioritizing investment and executing royalty resources.

The declaration of emergency allowed direct contracting to increase and, of course, the
of corruption. This statement arises in view of the investigations that opened up the
The Attorney General’s Office, the Comptroller General’s Office and the Prosecutor General’s Office on how the resources are being invested in the middle
of the pandemic. This sets a path for us to be more proactive and to ensure that the investment
really reaches the sectors where it is needed: health, education, among others.
Andrés Hernández There are several elements to answer the question. The first: Resources for
The funds to address the pandemic come from the Savings and Stabilization Fund. This fund has accumulated resources
for several years. The reform succeeds in allocating a larger budget to the territories, but, in
detriment to the Savings Fund. The resources of this fund are important for times of
unpredictable crises, such as that caused by Covid-19. The reform is leading to a very low level
the possibility of saving for future contingencies. Therefore, it is
We need to rethink the way in which these savings are being affected.

The second element has to do with the reduction of income from resources
non-renewable natural resources. Colombia has a significant income from these resources. Do not have these
or have an eventual reduction in income in the medium term implies that we will have to
to address a more complex fiscal scenario, with a great need and with a great limitation of
resources.

The third element refers to the instruments of power concentration. The eventual
concentration of decision making has a lot to do with royalties and the SGR. The government
The national government indicates that eliminating the OCAD will give greater autonomy to the territories, but how to have the
control of this decision making? How do you maintain this control through traceability of the
information? How to access useful data? and how do we invent mechanisms for
effective participation amidst the impossibility of face-to-face interaction?

Within the framework of this reform, there is a very interesting element, which is the handover to the Ministry of Mines.
the formulation of a Transparency Policy in the sector. If the reform passes, this Policy will
Transparency will have to establish new conditions to ensure that such participation is
effective. And to establish conditions to ensure that transparency is not only visibility.
Colombia has made great strides in visibility. However, progress needs to be made in effective participation,
in useful data and in the impact on decision making.

Marcela Vega Saavedra The impact of the pandemic on the hydrocarbon sector has been very strong. The
volatility and lower oil prices have meant that oil wells have been shut down. In this
There is an impact in terms of job losses. Also, this will be reflected in the loss of resources
of royalties. In Casanare, royalty resources have been used to subsidize the payment of utilities.
public. However, the contingency brings to light the weaknesses in the formulation of the projects.
The pandemic has also highlighted the technology gap. People may have an interest in
and follow up on royalty projects, but this technological gap severely limits
this interest. Therefore, this crisis evidenced the need for virtuality. Addressing this need
will enable the communities in the territories to acquire tools and knowledge to use the
platforms such as MapaRegalías.

Juan Pablo Remolina Citizen participation faces great challenges. For example: in
Santander 40% of households do not have internet access. At the rural level, more than 75% do not have
internet access. We face major challenges in terms of controls and citizen participation, which may mean that these limited resources are not allocated to the objectives of the company.
required.

Projects that were not viable before may be needed today. However, it may be because of the
the needs of the territory do not pass through the appropriate controls, and no measures are taken to
the most balanced decisions, who do not have the appropriate technical studies to determine that
the exploitation of these projects is in the best interest of the territory or that the exploitation is not in the best interest of the territory or that the exploitation is not in the best interest of the territory.
to the detriment of the corresponding environmental and social issues.
There is also the risk of generating a greater dependence on royalty resources or that the fabric of the
The company’s economic and social development strengthens its dependence on this source of resources. This makes it difficult to
to think of strategies for diversification and sophistication of the local economy.
Daniel Castillo Camacho The answer to the question will be divided in two. On the one hand, the effects of this
in the short term. The current situation has helped to identify the need for the
Stabilization Savings. This fund will be necessary if we are considering a scenario of loss of
energy self-sufficiency, where price volatility continues and demand remains high, and
decreasing. The resources of this fund are precisely for that purpose. However, if the fund receives less
resources it is going to be difficult to deal with a situation with the above scenarios.
In April, the Government issued Decree 513 of 2020. The purpose of the decree was to finance
the projects that sought to address the emergency situation using royalties, specifically
direct allocations and royalties that are in the Regional Compensation Funds. This decree
has boosted the operation of the SGR. As part of the monthly reports made by Crude Oil
During the first quarter of the year, 84 projects were identified in different sectors and
different regions. In April and May, 265 projects were identified. 70% of these
projects have been to address the emergency.

These 180 projects have very specific objectives for very clear needs such as delivering
of markets, utility rate subsidies, and infrastructure improvements.
hospital. In June, the work is to identify the progress of these projects. If they have
and whether they have been fully executed. As these are specific, short-term projects for
emergency must move forward. As quickly as they are approved, they need to move forward.
quickly.

On the other hand, what will happen in the medium term. Contingency has affected the royalties budget
because it depends on the price and sale of oil. Therefore, attention should be given to the
investment of the little resources that will be available in the 2021- 2022 biennium. Therefore, future investment must
be better focused, with greater transcendence and not end up in infrastructure projects of
transportation. This is one of the main types of royalty-funded projects and is often the most common type of project.
do not bring a greater benefit to the communities.

Third guiding question:
What are the recommendations to decision-makers on SGR reform?
Fabio Velasquez. The reform does not address the challenges of governance. This can be explained from
three topics:

1. The approach and objectives of the law: in the second article of the proposed law there is no
objective dedicated to participation, with the exception of number 7. This refers to ethnic groups.
So, there is a gap there because the beneficiaries of the reform are all of the
Colombians. Therefore, it is a fairly well-defined objective.
2. Decision-making bodies: the project creates a Governing Committee composed only of the following members
by governmental entities. Also, the regional OCADs have the participation of the
ethnic communities, exclusively. Although it is very good that this group is incorporated
in the OCADs, ethnic communities are not the only ones living in the regions.
OCAD Paz, created by Legislative Act No. 4 of 2017, has no participation.
citizen. The members of OCAD Paz are all governmental members. From the
From the point of view of decision-making structures, this OCAD is a closed structure.
which reiterates the government’s dynamic decision-making in the sector and in particular with
the issue of royalties. The government argues that this is a very technical issue. But, in
these decision-making and policy-making bodies with respect to the management of
There should be citizen participation in royalties.
3. Related to procedures and devices: Article 28 of the draft law speaks of
planning spaces. Article 64, which is the only article that has the title of “Article 64”, is the only article that has the title of “Article 64”.
citizen participation and social control. “Territorial entities shall or shall promote.
citizen participation for social control in the formulation, prioritization, execution, and implementation of
evaluation of projects financed with royalty resources”. This is the only thing that
one finds with respect to participation but, they are very generic, facultative articles and
discretionary. They do not imply any obligation on the part of the public authorities, and even less so
a sanction for those who do not comply.

In view of the above, a number of proposals emerge. The first is that the draft law
should have a chapter on participation. In this chapter, it should be explained that one of the most important
The objectives of the Law is the promotion of participation. This objective will enable all citizens to
and citizens to participate in the entire royalties management cycle through mechanisms and
devices that are effective.

From the point of view of decision-making structures, this chapter should contain articles that
to incorporate a participatory mechanism that includes the presence of representatives of the following
social sectors both in the Steering Committee and in the regional OCADs. For example, the OCADs
departmental planning councils, departmental planning councils, departmental planning committees, and departmental planning committees.
Social Policy, which are entities that work on royalties issues, and in the Steering Committee should be
at least one representative of the National Planning Council, one representative of the National Planning Council, one representative of the National Planning Council, and one representative of the National Planning Council.
National Participation Council. Both instances are already in place and should contribute to the
public policies.

From a procedural point of view, much more work needs to be done. For this issue of
the proposal is to recover the methodology of citizen audits. This is a
procedure that has already been tested. Transparencia por Colombia conducted a pilot project in 30 municipalities and
The results were very positive. It is a methodology that is already designed and operates throughout the entire
royalty cycle. In addition, they are open to the participation of many different sectors.
It is also important to introduce a mechanism for financing participation in the project.
of Law. While there is a 2% (two percent) share of the royalties for the administration of the system, there is a 2% (two percent) share of the royalties for the administration of the system.
could consider 1% (one percent) for the promotion of citizen participation in the management of royalties. There should be a whole program for generating conditions for the
exercise of citizen participation. For example, social actors could be trained, and even
enable institutional actors for the exercise of participation. In addition, this chapter should
The issue of guarantees and incentives for citizen participation should be contemplated. Some of these
things are already contemplated in Law 1715 of 2014. However, in terms of protection guarantees and
security is non-existent.

It would be very important to come up with the idea of developing protocols for participation. The protocol of
citizen participation in the management of royalties can be done by means of a decree.
regulatory. This may include participation incentives. Participation can be
one of the variables in the Management Index. The Management Index score will be higher
for those who introduce and incorporate participatory practices. In this way, they will be able to access
better prerogatives.

Many other proposals can be made because, as the bill stands, it is not aimed at
a transformation of the relationship between the State and society in the management of royalties. ago
more of the same and creates very general approaches that can be interpreted in many different ways.
ways. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize very well which would be the devices and the
procedure so that citizens can intervene throughout the royalty cycle. Do not
will lead to social conflict. Today we have a more empowered and knowledgeable citizenry.
and more supervisory of public action. In the absence of forms of citizen intervention in the management of the
of royalty resources will surely increase the social conflict around these issues.

Closing:
The floor is given to the guests to express their conclusions:
Juan Pablo Remolina A public index is proposed to measure the performance of companies. Yes
When we talk about mining well done or oil extraction well done, it is necessary that the whole of the
The citizenry knows which companies have high scores and which ones have low scores.
low scores.

It is important to determine which will be the collective instance to approve and measure the quality of the
projects. It is unacceptable that there are no institutional instances or spaces for citizen participation.
in the approval of projects. What we need to do is to strengthen these spaces. It is necessary to
to turn information systems into living systems. Make dynamic the tools of
information. Also, companies should be linked to regional development and invest in the region’s
institutional capabilities in order to improve the investment of resources. Finally, it is necessary to
to make a counter-reform to the current reform in order to recover savings. In other words, designate more
resources for producers without detriment to savings.
Marcela Vega Saavedra. The participation system is one of the biggest concerns that the company has
the reform. Strengthen the knowledge and capacities of the communities to
intervene. In the territories, this will allow projects to be more coherent, to ensure that development
more authentic to the communities and that it does not depend solely on the administrations, on the
territorial entities or those who formulate these projects. The issue of strengthening them in the management of
tools is fundamental to this.

Astrid Navarro Project problems range from formulation to sustainability.
For royalty projects, citizen participation and oversight is important, as well as the
audits. They often hire auditors who are unfamiliar with the project or the territory.
where the interventions will take place. Therefore, it is important to have a good orientation.
to the issue of auditing, improve the capacity of local authorities in the training and training of
of officials in terms of project formulation, contracting, supervision, etc.
and everything that has to do with legal processes.

Daniel Castillo Camacho. One proposal is that the OCADs must remain in place. The OCADs are
necessary. If they disappear, there must be a mechanism or a body to replace them. Most of the
of the projects, within the framework of the emergency, have been approved by these OCADs. This demonstrates
that when used well, they work. The solution is not to eliminate the OCADs but to improve them,
reform and strengthen them.

Another proposal is to articulate the reform and the royalty works mechanism. This will help in
terms of transparency. This articulation is necessary because it is not possible to leave this
type of resources, taking into account that it affects direct royalties, i.e., those of the territories
producers. It needs to be understood that although companies may have a good
The territories cannot depend on them for their growth. Beyond
the implementation of projects, there must be a transfer of capabilities. You cannot lose the
autonomy of the territories or that the State or the companies create a dependence on the resource.
of royalties.

The counter-reform is necessary for the Savings Fund and to change the percentage of the savings fund allocated to the
activities other than the extractive sector. As it stood, the percentage allocated to this type of
investments will depend on the price of oil. The proposal is that the from SGR is invested in
activities other than the extractive sector. Technical assistance to ensure that the projects in the
regions are better focused and more successful. With regard to OCAD Paz, the following should be sought
the way to ensure that this OCAD is finally used for what it should be used for and not to spend
easily projects that have nothing to do with the implementation of the agreement.
Claire Launay thanked each guest for their participation. In this webinar, several issues were raised and
very interesting proposals. The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in Industries
Extractive Industries and Transparencia por Colombia will gather the contributions and results of this space. See
thanks the audience for their participation. This is the end of the event.

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The XIII Latin American Forum of the LIE Network has just ended and offered the opportunity to recognize the progress and difficulties of civil society advocacy in the efforts for transparency and access to information regarding the contribution of the extractive industry to the development of the countries in the different links of the value chain.

Three dimensions that the civil society agenda should promote in this phase of the end of the commodities super-cycle were discussed: the political dimension, which allows for a better understanding of the so-called “commodities consensus” and the processes of weakening state institutions, especially in terms of decentralization, citizen participation and environmental management; the socio-economic dimension, which shows the negative impacts of extractive activities on economic growth and social welfare; and the environmental and climate change dimension, probably the one that shows the greatest risks to the welfare of communities.

This highlights the importance of advancing in the materialization of critical issues such as the publication of contracts, real beneficiaries, the strengthening of scenarios and mechanisms for citizen participation and advocacy, the inclusion of detailed socio-environmental aspects and the grounding of EITI initiatives at the sub-national level, among others.

Colombia is no stranger to these Latin American challenges and although it hosted the sessions of the international EITI Board and launched the second report for Colombia (with sector information for 2014-2015), some efforts are still needed to make the Colombian exercise more grounded and consistent with the needs of local communities that demand greater transparency in the sector.

The important progress made in the preparation of the two country reports and the work carried out to achieve this important contribution to transparency for the public is acknowledged. However, and in view of the results obtained so far, civil society considers that the inclusion of environmental issues, the approach to the real beneficiaries of the companies, the inclusion of information disaggregated by project, the progress towards more decisive bets towards the inclusion of information on the small mining sector, and the approach to the subnational scale (understood as a breakdown of relevant information and with the opportunity to replicate the instances of consultation at the departmental and municipal level) are issues that should mark the north to be followed; not only to reinforce the transparency of this industry in Colombia within the framework of Eiti, but also to advance an autonomous agenda in this regard.

Finally, we fully support and agree with our colleagues participating in the LIE Network that “the inclusion of this information in national EITI reports will contribute to the reduction of social conflicts, better governance of natural resources and the promotion of human rights”.

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The IX Meeting of the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries, which took place on November 22, was successfully concluded, with the objective of reviewing the main results of the Roundtable in 2016 and defining the main guidelines for 2017.

During the meeting, the main progress made by the Civil Society Roundtable and the participating organizations on transparency and access to information at the sub-national level was discussed. In addition to reviewing the progress made in the preparation of the second EITI Colombia report.

Those attending the meeting had the opportunity to learn about new content and initiatives such as: the virtual training course on the extractive industries value chain (EITI Colombia initiative), the commercialization of raw materials (EITI standard), and the identification of corruption risks in the granting of mining titles (Transparency for Colombia initiative).

Throughout 2016, the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries carried out several activities in order to obtain inputs that allow further progress in the EITI Colombia process. Among the main conclusions obtained were the following:

1. Expand the number of organizations participating in the Roundtable: the workshops held to socialize the first EITI Colombia 2013 report, and identify the transparency and access to information needs of the communities, allowed the representative members to recognize the importance of adding more social and academic organizations to help strengthen this space of interaction for civil society.
2. Extend the work of the Roundtable geographically: Although the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries has worked in more than 7 departments of the country, it is important to be able to extend the activities to other regions where there is a strong presence of the extractive industry.
3. Sub-national work: Since the creation of the Mesa, the importance of decentralizing the initiative and creating a sub-national EITI has been discussed in the meetings of the National Tripartite Committee (CTN). Since the beginning of 2016, the Bureau has carried out a series of activities that have allowed us to delve deeper into the topic and have new elements to address it.
4. Environmental transparency: The objective is to continue to deepen this topic in order to include it in future reports produced by the country.
5. Use of rent: A recurring and disturbing issue for communities is the use of rent generated from extractive activities. This will be a priority item on the Mesa’s agenda for 2017.

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