Collective action critical to address the governance challenges of the energy transition
Improved governance of natural resources will be a keystone of a successful energy transition over the next decade. That’s why BHP Foundation is supporting Governance Action Hub, a new project designed to empower locally-led coalitions to reduce corruption and improve development outcomes in resource-rich countries.
Results for Development (R4D) will lead the project designed to establish a Governance Action Hub that connects initiatives (hubs) in different countries for more collaborative, action-oriented dialogue as well as an international community that promotes learning between local and global actors.
The Hub will connect different people and networks to focus on targeted action that complements or strengthens existing efforts and that understands governance as the ecosystem needed to achieving common, desirable, societal goals.
This includes:
- Strengthening collective action strategies
- Elevating and supporting local stakeholder ideas
- Promoting cross-learning
- Facilitating the coordination of local and global action
The model will be used in a number of different countries, facilitating local action around common goals and challenges specific to each country.
Coordination between local and global efforts
Governance Action Hub will bring together actors with different agendas and perspectives – from civil society, the private sector, and government – to collectively address complex and persistent governance challenges such as:
- Implementation of regional development plans;
- Better use of extractives revenue for better health, education, and nutrition outcomes; and
- Securing pathways to a just energy transition at the local level.
The model will be used in a number of different countries, facilitating local action around common goals and challenges specific to each country.
Mario G. Picon, Governance Action Hub Director, said the project will broaden the reach of existing or recent dialogue processes and collaborative platforms.
“We promote inclusion and support the elevation of those voices and perspectives in the design, and their engagement in the implementation of policies and interventions,” said Mr Picon.
“The Hub prioritizes work at the subnational level in the countries where it works.” he said.
The Hub also aims to progressively build a global community that captures learnings at a local level and shares these insights with the global community working to improve natural resource governance.
Learn more about the Governance Action Hub strategy and approach
“We believe this model of collective action is what is needed to increase participation, create locally led solutions and build trust that will contribute to improved governance systems, a just transition, and improved outcomes for people,” said Fiona Avery, BHP Foundation’s Natural Resource Governance Program Director.
Building on a knowledge base
This new project seeks to address the specific need for greater knowledge in how to build effective coalitions for systems-wide change - a key finding in the Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption initiative that BHP Foundation has supported since 2017.
This prior work by Results for Development (R4D) and The Brookings Institution found initiatives to improve governance in resource-rich countries have focused on enhancing transparency, accountability, or participation, mainly through technical solutions, and often with limited attention to local dynamics.
Building upon this work, BHP Foundation has committed US$6.25 million over five years towards the Governance Action Hub project.
“We believe this model of collective action is what is needed to increase participation, create locally led solutions and build trust that will contribute to improved governance systems, a just transition, and improved outcomes for people,” said Fiona Avery, BHP Foundation’s Natural Resource Governance Program Director.
Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption (LTRC) initiative and Governance Action Hub are supported by the BHP Foundation Natural Resource Governance program, a collaboration between international institutions, governments, civil society and business working across the natural resource value chain to enhance governance, reduce corruption and enable people to have agency and voice in decisions affecting them. Learn more.
