Outlook Conclusion: The urgent need to include African people—where do we go from here?

However, before all participants can derive benefit from cooperative and participatory processes, they must first be accepted as legitimate stakeholders. Governments are expected to adopt a more open information policy towards their citizensfor example with regard to broader access to EITI reports and other relevant information. Other important elements of a sustainable resource policy are certification systems and implementation of measures to improve basic education and to train African resource experts. Businesses need to be encouraged to adopt international standards (such as the OECD principles for multinational enterprises) and develop their social and ecological profile. Cooperation with government-perhaps in the form of public private partnerships-can be a stabilising factor in such efforts.