Project progress report

A visually engaging project progress report that helped the EITI tell the story of their ambitious Opening Extractives programme.

Background

The mission of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is to promote understanding of natural resource management, strengthen public and corporate governance and accountability, and provide the data to inform policymaking and multi-stakeholder dialogue in the extractive sector. By becoming a member of the EITI, more than 50 countries have agreed to a set of rules around what has to be disclosed and when to do it along the extractive industry value chain, in what is known as the EITI Standard.

For the Opening Extractives programme, the EITI is jointly implementing this programme with a partner organisation called Open Ownership. Open Ownership (OO) works with governments, companies and civil society to create effective beneficial ownership disclosure regimes. The OO Principles set the gold standard for effective beneficial ownership disclosure. Open Ownership (OO) has been working with the EITI since 2017 to deliver beneficial ownership transparency reforms, and in 2021 OO and the EITI launched the joint Opening Extractives programme that is engaging up to 10 countries in implementing beneficial ownership reforms and enabling the use of data to improve natural resource governance.

Challenge

Having worked with the EITI on a number of report design projects already, we were invited to submit a proposal for the design of the Opening Extractives Programme progress report, their flagship publication.

The design – always following our client’s brand guidelines – would have to be engaging, with a specific request from our client to present the large amounts of data in a highly visual way to maximise understanding and buy-in. Beyond data, we were asked to highlight the importance of transparency when it comes to beneficial ownership and also to tell the story of the Opening Extractives initiative from its first year of implementation.

Another key requirement of the progress report was to produce it in Spanish and French, as well as creating an interactive digital version.

Solution

We started by proposing three different concepts, all relying on a circular visual theme that nods at the concepts of collaboration and mutual benefit.

The chosen design

The report highlights the key activities of the Opening Extractives programme, such as energy transition and peer learning, and showcases country examples of beneficial ownership implementation and data use. Of the six colours available in the approved colour palette, purple takes centre stage to help some of the information stand out, while orange is used sparingly as an accent.

During the design planning stages, we ensured the page layouts would accommodate a natural flow for the translated versions of the report, into Spanish and French, languages that take up more space on a page (between 15% and 30% expansion ratio for both languages when English is the source language).

The project progress report is filled with interesting ways to display information, such as infographic-style visuals and timelines.

Relaxed people photography showing the different teams in-country also plays a major role in transmitting a message around the benefits of openness, transparency and collaboration.

The design of the report translates well to digital formats, guaranteeing maximum reach for our client.

“Many thanks Bryony and Suzie for all your support and great work, both the printed and interactive web version look absolutely great and your patience is out of this world! The report has been well received and country implementers love it. It’s been a great pleasure working with you.” – Nyasha Vera, EITI Communications Officer