Since December 2013, representatives of the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries have been holding awareness workshops to publicize the EITI process in Colombia in different parts of the country. Organizations and social leaders, the media, academia and other social sectors have participated in the workshops, as an opportunity to strengthen transparency in the extraction of oil, mining and gas in Colombia.
Citizens from different sectors of Montería, Valledupar, Sincelejo, Neiva, Villavicencio, Medellín and Bogotá have attended the workshops and are familiar with the EITI process in Colombia. In total, thirteen workshops have been held and the last two were held in Valledupar and Montería. See note on other regional workshops.
On September 18 in Valledupar, topics such as the importance and progress of EITI in Colombia, the work path of civil society and the challenges faced by citizens to make the extractive industry in Colombia transparent were discussed. During the workshop, the attendees recognized the importance of the initiative because it allows them to make visible the true economic impact of the extractive sector at the national level. In addition, they expressed the need to ensure that the initiative transcends the territorial level with political will.
At the end of the event, the attendees committed to creating research groups in order to delve into the impacts of extractive activity, support the activities of the Table and strengthen the representatives of Civil Society of the National Tripartite Committee in environmental discussions and social.
The workshop was carried out by the Cesar Royalties Investment Monitoring Committee (CSIR Cesar), the Andean Area University Foundation and Transparency for Colombia, and included the participation of students, journalists, and academics from the region.
On the other hand, on September 18 in Montería, a workshop was held with more than 50 young people from the department of Córdoba with the aim of knowing the perception of young people about transparency in the extractive industry in their territories, promoting the participation of youth on extractive industry issues and identify youth leaders interested in the issue.
During the workshop, all the participants shared their knowledge about the territory through the social mapping methodology, learned about the EITI Colombia process and committed to inquire more about the issue of the extractive industry in their regions and to better understand the realities of their territory. .
Young people from Cereté, Lorica, San Antero, Tierralta, Monte Líbano, Valencia and Montería participated. The workshop was carried out by the Ocasa Corporation, CSIR Córdoba and Transparencia por Colombia. See information on youth workshop.
About EITI
EITI, for its acronym in English (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative), is a global initiative that seeks to monitor and reconcile the payments made by companies and those received by the government for the exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources. It is applied voluntarily by countries whose governments intend to improve governance, involving companies and civil society. Currently, Colombia is in the process of preparing its candidacy.
About the table
The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries is an initiative of which 21 social and academic organizations from different parts of the country have participated since November 2013, with the purpose of promoting higher levels of transparency and access to information. public sector in the extractive sector (oil, mining and gas) in Colombia.
