The 2021 Resource Governance Index Research Process is Underway

At the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), we are committed to helping to improve the lives of people who live in resource-rich countries. As part of this mission, we produce the Resource Governance Index, a measure of the governance of oil, gas and mining sectors in resource-producing countries. The Resource Governance Index covers many issues, from the allocation of extraction rights through to the management of the revenue generated by oil, gas and mining sectors. It is a freely available public data product that serves as a global benchmark, country and sector diagnostic tool, and a roadmap for policy and practice reforms at the global, regional and country levels. The 2017 Resource Governance Index results showed that the effective governance of oil, gas and mining sectors is not an insurmountable challenge but that many countries still struggle to adequately govern their natural resource wealth.

The 2021 Resource Governance Index project is now underway, and will build on the structures and successes of previous iterations. As we face global economic, political and social uncertainty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, evidence-based decision-making will be even more important, and particularly so in resource-dependent countries. The 2021 Resource Governance Index will be an authoritative tool to help decision-makers, and those who hold them accountable, to ensure that extractive industries are responsibly managed as countries navigate the challenges ahead. The 2021 iteration of the index will assess governance practices in the period from 2019 to 2020. For the first time, the results from the 2021 edition will be directly comparable with scores from the previous index (published in 2017 with an assessment period from 2015 to 2016). This will allow for analysis of a country’s performance over time to show improvements or deteriorations in resource governance, in addition to analysis of a country’s performance against its peers. We will launch the results of the index during 2021.

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We will include 25 countries in the 2021 Resource Governance Index, with geographical spread across Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. We included countries based on their resource dependency and NRGI’s regional and country programmatic work. In each country, we will assess the oil and gas or mining sectors and in nine instances we will measure both sectors.

Note: Country coverage of the 2021 Resource Governance Index was revised on 1 October 2020 and the index will now include 18 countries, seven fewer than the 25 countries originally planned. Countries now excluded are: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Yemen and Zambia. Research is ongoing in the final set of selected countries, all of which associate directly to NRGI country or regional programs. We look forward to greater country coverage in future editions of the Resource Governance Index.

2021 RGI Country Coverage
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NRGI is now recruiting consultant researchers and peer reviewers to collect data for the 2021 Resource Governance Index. Our recruitment and research will take place during 2020 and early 2021. If you are interested in opportunities to work on the Resource Governance Index for a specific country please refer to the NRGI careers and opportunities page and look out for in-country calls for consultants.

For more information email index@resourcegovernance.org.

Liz McGrath is the research, data and learning director at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). Anna Fleming is an NRGI research and data officer.