Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen (SOMO): Going public. Transparency on public resources tax just. and soc. contr (theme 2)

The Going Public project empowers civil society organisations to influence and hold political decisionmakers in Sub-Sahara Africa accountable with the aim of increasing domestic revenue mobilization from extractive industries and ensuring these revenues contribute to improving access to essential public services. The project focuses on Kenya Mozambique and Uganda which have attracted significant foreign investment from multinational corporations in extractive industries such as oil and mining. Due to unfair international tax rules a lack of inclusive public spending and insufficient transparency these investments have not made a significant contribution to increasing tax revenue and reducing inequality in these countries.The Going Public project supports civil society in Uganda Kenya and Mozambique to become active participants in rather than merely the subject of critical governance and public finance policy debates and decision-making processes regarding management of natural resource revenues and publicspending. The project reflects a commitment to address inequality particularly gender inequality in relation to the management and use of extractive industry revenues as well as promoting women?s participation in decision-making processes on revenue management.This project brings together NGOs from Uganda Mozambique and Kenya with international NGOs to collaborate on advocacy research and capacity building activities at a local national regional and global level. This includes direct advocacy towards national governments and regional bodies suchas the African Union and research to expose tax avoidance and its impacts on national budgets and public spending. Going Public contributes to Finnish Development Cooperation policy goals by improving the sustainability of national economies in Africa and will contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) specifically SDG 1 (poverty reduction) SDG 5 (gender equality) and SDG 10 (reducing inequality within and between countries). Improving domestic revenue mobilization and ensuring effective revenue management that prioritizes essential services redresses inequalities and is based on public participation in the decision-making are critical to the achievement of the SDGs.