The Central Euasia Project welcomes proposals from organizations wishing to pursue advocacy in the United States in support of the Publish What You Pay Campaign (PWYP) and for increased U.S. participation in the UK-led Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. View specific guidelines for applying for grants from CEP.

The Publish What You Pay campaign aims to help citizens of resource-rich developing countries hold their governments accountable for the management of revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries. The Publish What You Pay coalition of over 200 NGOs worldwide calls for the mandatory disclosure of the payments made by oil, gas and mining companies’ to all governments for the extraction of natural resources. Though not a CEP program, the campaign was launched by George Soros and founded by Global Witness, CAFOD, Open Society Institute, Oxfam, Save the Children UK, and Transparency International UK. CEP offers grants to organizations who promote transparency work and wish to persue advocacy for PWYP's goals.

There is significant momentum for promoting the PWYP goals in the United States. The number of institutional voices calling for extractive sector revenue transparency has grown to include the G-8, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Parliament, as well as leading European institutional investors.

The Central Eurasia Project invites proposals from NGOs, or partnerships of NGOs, with a track record of pursuing government fiscal transparency, corporate social responsibility, or who have worked on the challenges facing natural resource exporting countries.

The successful proposal will outline a strategy for:

• Advocating PWYP through regulatory and government channels, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Export-Import Bank, major stock exchanges, or conditionality on financial assistance by export credit agencies and multilateral institutions like the World Bank Group and the IMF;
• Producing non-partisan research that could be used to promote PWYP in the United States or elsewhere and presenting it to policymakers;
• Persuading U.S. institutional investors, through non-partisan analysis, that companies should disclose payments;
• Supporting increased U.S. participation in the UK-led Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative;
• Building the membership of the U.S. based PWYP coalition;
• Carrying out a public awareness-raising campaign, and appealing to the public to pressure extractive companies for greater transparency;
• Coordinating efforts with active members of the PWYP team in Europe as well as the London based European coordinator.

Deadline for receipt of proposals:

Monday June 15, 2004

Proposals should be sent to:
Anu Kangaspunta-Garfield
Central Eurasia Project
Open Society Institute
400 West 59 Street
New York , NY 10019

E-mail: akangaspunta@sorosny.org
Fax: 1-212-548-4607