Capturing economic and social benefits at the community level: Opportunities and obstacles for civil society

Civil society organizations have played various roles in promoting the capture of benefits from and protection against the negative impacts of extractive industries. Payment disclosure is one potentially powerful tool for such organizations to promote greater local benefit capture. Practitioners and academics have noted, however, that transparency alone does not equate to accountability. This is true in the extractive sectors, where political dynamics pose serious obstacles. The cases of Ghana and Peru provide examples of these dynamics. Strategies for overcoming them include strengthening the technical capacity of civil society organizations, providing civic education, targeting interventions better, and learning more deeply from positive examples.