Hatfield Africa developing the technology tool for two-way transparency and accountability around oil and gas sector

Oct 07, 2011

Hatfield, together with the Kumasi Institute of Technology, Energy and Environment (KITE, Ghana) are working to develop an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) platform to support transparency and accountability through two-way monitoring of the Oil and Gas sector in Ghana.

The discovery of commercial quantities of oil in 2007 resulted in significant commercial opportunities for Ghana. These opportunities need to be balanced with concerns raised by the general population and impacted communities. With the start of oil production, Ghanaians are concerned that Ghana’s record of economic, social and democratic development may be eroded by the social, economic and environmental challenges posed by the oil boom.

Through the effective use of ICT, oil companies can be made aware of current and past impacts, and stakeholders impacted by extractive industries can be empowered to better understand potential costs and benefits of development activities related to the oil and gas sector on communities. In this way, ICTs can facilitate a positive feedback loop between government institutions, private-sector firms and communities to monitor and track the impact of extractive industries on communities.

To build an accessible, democratic ICT solution, Hatfield will implement a three-phased project:

Phase 1: Development of methods to track, monitor and disseminate information on oil and gas sector impacts;

Phase 2: ICT platform development and trial; and

Phase 3: Monitoring and evaluation of the ICT platform trial.

Hatfield is developing an overall approach that utilizes participatory methods to identify appropriate technologies that fits with the capacity of the users and can be sustainable overtime.

For more information, please contact us:

Simon Hughes
Director
HATFIELD CONSULTANTS AFRICA

E-mail: hca@hatfieldgroup.com
Tel.: +267 397 2661