A coalition is commonly described as an alliance of actors united by their common goal. Their composition, life-span and synergies vary widely, but what makes a coalition work? We always put forward that as a coalition our strength lies in our members. No one entity on its own can take on companies and governments to ensure transparency in the extractive sector. But if we work together, each playing to our own distinct strengths, we become more than the sum of our parts and can take on the most opaque and powerful of actors.

(We (Publish What You Pay) are a global coalition of more than 800 civil society organisations united in their aim for an open and accountable extractive sector, so that citizens can benefit from their natural resources).

This phenomenon has been particularly evident in the campaign for mandatory disclosures — to oblige extractive companies to publish their payments to governments — and in PWYP Canada’s relationship with other members in Africa.

Canada’s role in the extractive sector is a large one indeed: it is home to almost 60% of the world’s mining companies and their activities span the entire globe. The country — and its civil society — has a responsibility to ensure a more open extractive sector.

Canadian civil society responded to the call. Today — ten years after the launch of the coalition — the collaboration between PWYP Canada and other PWYP coalitions in Africa goes from strength to strength.

As PWYP Canada campaigned for its companies to become more transparent, the coalition was also conducting research on what information companies were already disclosing, as detailed in their first report Lifting the Veil: Exploring the Transparency of Canadian Companies. The report met with success among PWYP members, and in 2011, PWYP Canada launched a capacity building project, initially focused on PWYP Africa coalitions, to support them in obtaining access to existing extractive data on Canadian companies, as well as exploring with them ways to use this data. This included information that went far beyond payments to governments, including information on environmental risks and planning, contract and licensing terms, production data and information related to a company’s social and community development activities.

The project activities included the creation of company portfolios on a variety of Canadian mining companies, operating primarily in Africa, which are available on PWYP Canada’s website. PWYP Canada also produced a manual providing guidance on how to locate information Canadian mining companies publicly disclose. An Eye on Disclosure: The PWYP-Canada Guide to Finding Information on Public Mining Companies in Canada, also provides numerous examples of the type of information that can be found in Canadian securities disclosure documents.

PWYP Canada organised a series of workshops, notably in Cameroon, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, to train PWYP members and other stakeholders, including journalists and government officials, in how to use and access extractive information via SEDAR, Canada’s securities disclosure website. As well as looking at existing information, PWYP Canada also covered the current mandatory disclosures campaign to prepare members for the impending data that will come out of the EU Transparency & Accounting Directives, Dodd-Frank 1504 and eventually Canadian disclosure itself.

Zimbabwe, diamonds & revenue flows

If there’s one situation where you might expect to find little existing data, it might be Zimbabwe and diamonds. When mining of the Marange diamonds started in 2009, the gems were expected to provide a ‘shot in the arm’ to Zimbabwe’s economy. Yet that boost never materialised. Even if expectations around these diamonds had perhaps been set too high, the secrecy and confusion around their extraction prevents effective collection and use of their revenues.

ZELA, the coordinating member of Publish What You Pay Zimbabwe, has been conducting research and advocacy into this issue, to find out what has been happening and ensure the country’s citizens can benefit from the diamonds.

“PWYP Canada showed us how to use SEDAR to get information about Canadian companies operating in Zimbabwe” said Gilbert Makore, Projects Coordinator at ZELA. “The companies aren’t big, but it was still very useful.”

“We were able to show that publishing information isn’t taboo and we started arguing for industry wide requirements — that all extractive companies should start publishing information.”

Indeed, ZELA have been establishing just how much the government received from Marange diamonds from 2009 — 2013. The task was no easy one, with strong contradictions arising from within the government itself: the Minister of Finance has complained several times that diamond revenues are not reaching the treasury, while the Ministry of Mines insisted all revenues had made its way to the Treasury. Meanwhile, figures show that production has increased yet the revenues reaching the state have not.

Zimbabwe is not a member of EITI and therefore the coalition depended on an unforthcoming government for information. However, thanks to their newly acquired access to SEDAR, Gilbert was able to track down the payments made by New Dawn, a Canadian mining company operating in the Marange fields, to the government. This helped illustrate an example of how companies could start reporting their payments in Zimbabwe as well as helping ZELA draw a better picture of the government revenues. In its report, Tracking the Trends, ZELA was able to draw as clear a picture of the Marange revenues as was possible, and highlighted some important — if worrying — trends. As well as revealing these findings, ZELA was able to make a strong case for the Zimbabwean government to adopt transparency measures, including EITI. Access to SEDAR helped ZELA find one piece of the puzzle, but if they want to really follow the money project-level reporting by companies is indispensable.

Supporting Canada’s advocacy campaign

These exchanges have been valuable for the coalitions in Cameroon, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, but also advantageous to PWYP Canada itself.

“These exchanges helped us sharpen our advocacy in Canada and ensure we were framing our policy asks in a way that would yield information useful to coalitions in resource-rich countries.”

By discussing with coalition members what type of information would be useful to their campaign, PWYP Canada was able to better visualise what accountability looks like, identify potential barriers to members accessing data and see what members in resource-rich countries need to know in order to be able to realise their goals. “It supported our task too, as we were able to provide concrete examples in our advocacy briefs”, said Claire Woodside, Director of PWYP Canada.

“The whole process also helped ensure that the mandatory disclosures campaign didn’t happen in a silo” added Kady Seguin, Programme Analyst for PWYP Canada. “We’re seeking to change the rules in Canada as a means to an end, so it only makes sense that we develop our campaign by exchanging with our colleagues who will be the eventual users of this information.”

Then, there is also the sharing of information that has nothing to do with mandatory disclosures or with using the data, but that is crucial for the functioning of a coalition. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are — when you’re working in a coalition, similar challenges raise their heads. How do you get 22 different organisations to sign-off on the same public release? How do you manage the decision-making process so that it is both inclusive and effective? For PWYP Canada, it was useful to discuss these issues with their African colleagues.

This also proved the case for PWYP Cameroon, as Jaff Bamenjo, coordinator for RELUFA, explained. “Publish What You Pay Canada came to visit at a time when we weren’t very active as a coalition. Having a workshop on finding and using the data was an opportunity for us to redynamise ourselves. Based on what we learned we implemented several coalition wide actions after the meeting.”

“PWYP Canada told us about how they were working with mining companies in their advocacy to introduce mandatory disclosure. This inspired us to also engage with companies rather than just placing ourselves as their opposition. After the workshop we conducted a project focussing on two extractive companies and following their social payments. We reached out to the companies and one of them came to talk to us about contracts. The workshop was also helpful in teaching us about how to conduct a campaign and how to look for information that already exists”.

From the exchange of practical skills and knowledge to the discussion of coalition life, these swaps have proved fruitful to all parties. This PWYP story also reflects the synergy that exists among our members — when it comes to the fight for natural resource transparency, it is united that we stand.