The window is closing soon for Guyanese citizens, civil society organizations (CSOs), and industry operators to have their say on how the country’s natural resource wealth is managed. The International Secretariat of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is entering the final days of its official public call for views. With the May 30, 2026 deadline just two days away, stakeholders are being strongly urged to submit their perspectives immediately through the EITI International Portal to help shape Guyana’s upcoming full Validation assessment.
This public consultation, which opened on May 15th, is a vital opportunity for regular citizens and local groups to directly influence international oversight. Because the underlying philosophy of the EITI is that a country’s natural resources belong entirely to its citizens, broad local participation is critical to ensuring the final assessment reflects reality on the ground.
How We Got Here
Guyana first signed up to the global EITI transparency standard in 2017. However, progress faced significant hurdles:
April 2022 Evaluation: Guyana received a “fairly low” overall implementation score against the 2019 EITI Standard.
October 2025 Delay: A subsequent full Validation was originally slated to begin late last year. However, the international EITI Board derailed and deferred this timeline due to escalating internal friction and a profound lack of consensus regarding how civil society representatives were being selected for the national Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG). This deadlock effectively stalled active local implementation for over a year.
May 12, 2026 Breakthrough: To break the administrative impasse, the EITI Board approved a compromise approach.
May 15, 2026 Launch: This decision triggered the formal opening of the current full Validation process, which is now actively underway.
As this reassessment moves forward, an independent consultant will be appointed, and an official country visit is expected in the coming weeks to conduct direct, on-the-ground consultations.
The EITI standard fundamentally relies on active, unhindered tri-sector collaboration between government entities, extractive companies, and civil society. To gauge Guyana’s progress between April 2022 and May 2026, the International Secretariat is requesting targeted feedback on three central questions:
Are the government, extractive companies, and civil society fully, actively, and effectively engaged in EITI implementation?
Are there any existing obstacles or barriers preventing specific constituencies or sub-groups from participating? If so, how have these barriers impacted the overall quality, data disclosure, and public utility of the extractive sector’s data?
What is the general perspective on the overall quality and impact of EITI implementation in Guyana, and what specific areas require immediate improvement?
Given past friction surrounding the independence of the Multi-Stakeholder Group, the 2026 Validation will place a rigorous, magnifying-glass focus on the EITI Protocol regarding the participation of civil society. Evaluators will look far beyond the formal MSG body to scrutinize whether broader civil society can actively participate without systemic pushback.
Submissions are being requested to directly address the following five indicators of civic freedom:
Are CSOs able to engage in public discourse and voice criticisms regarding the EITI process openly without fear of restraint, coercion, or reprisal?
Can independent representatives operate freely within the scope of resource governance?
Are civil society members able to communicate, organize, and cooperate freely with one another regarding the initiative?
Is civil society meaningfully included in designing, monitoring, and evaluating the local EITI framework?
Can representatives speak freely on broader transparency issues to ensure the initiative effectively drives national public debate?
The EITI Secretariat has stressed that all stakeholder responses will be strictly anonymized and kept entirely confidential to protect participants.
When reporting potential breaches of the civil society protocol, stakeholders are asked to provide clear descriptions of the incidents, including timelines, the actors involved, links to the EITI process, and any available supporting documentation.
The EITI global standard operates across more than 50 countries, enforcing a transparent, verifiable chain of custody for resource wealth. By participating, member nations commit to full data disclosures across the entire extractive value chain, detailing exactly how exploration and extraction rights are awarded, how financial revenues flow into government coffers, and how those funds are ultimately spent for public benefit.
