Second year graduate student, Kathleen Brophy of Ellicott City, Md. completed a seven-month term as interim Extractive Industries Program Officer for Transparency International-Uganda working to strengthen civil society capacity in the country regarding issues of transparency and accountability in Uganda’s emerging oil and gas sector.
To fulfill her final University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service project requirements, Brophy worked for the Transparency-International Uganda Secretariat office to complete civil society needs analysis research and undertake a capacity building project for the organization.
In this position, Brophy observed and analyzed the civil society organizations and coalitions in Uganda working to ensure good governance in the country’s oil sector projected to commence production of its 3.5 billion barrels of crude oil in 2018.
The research focused on deficiencies and weaknesses in civil society activity that could strategically be addressed by Transparency International-Uganda. This research helped guide the organization’s involvement in civil society advocacy particularly promoting due diligence tracking of resource revenues and mechanisms to prevent high-level oil sector corruption.
After completing over thirty stakeholder interviews and conducting a robust information gathering process, Brophy found many important limitations to civil society activity that were impeding the influence of civil society activity and leaving certain key issues neglected.
This work is particularly important in Uganda considering the potential for “resource curse” effects of the oil that could lead to destabilization and even future conflict if the resource is not properly managed. The risk for mismanagement is high in the case of Uganda due to the country’s endemic struggle with government corruption and a lack of political commitment to oil sector transparency thus far.
As part of her capstone project, Brophy both worked to develop the internal capacity of Transparency International-Uganda and actively participated in civil society activity representing the organization in numerous coalitions and partnership projects. Alongside her capacity development work, Brophy met with affected communities in the oil producing region, presented legislative recommendations to the Parliament of Uganda, and led civil society efforts for increased resource revenue transparency within the oil revenue chain.
“Indeed Kathleen has been a great asset to the Organization. In fact TI-Uganda currently is in discussion with different donors to try secure some funding for the project. If it all goes well, Kathleen will be retained as extractive industry program officer after her graduation,” said Padde Gerald, Program Officer for Transparency International-Uganda. “As her supervisor, I am really proud of Kathleen and looking forward to continue working with her.”
This work helped address the key vectors for corruption and malfeasance in the country’s extractive industries including the embezzlement of oil revenues and elite capture of the oil benefits. Considering a 2012 scandal in the Office of the Prime Minister wherein the minister was indicted with embezzling $12.7 million in aid money, the possibility for oil sector corruption is high. Brophy plans to return to the country and continue this work following graduation.
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