In February this year, International Alert organised an awareness campaign around the West African island of Príncipe aimed at informing those living in rural areas about forthcoming oil extraction. The island state of São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea is the second smallest country in Africa and one of the poorest countries in the world. However, it is about to join the ranks of oil-producing states, and there are hopes that resultant revenues can be harnessed for development and poverty eradication, as well as fears that this may exacerbate inequality and corruption, and potentially cause violent conflict.
International Alert has been engaged in conflict prevention work in the country since 2004 to strengthen the capacities of the media, civil society organisations and parliamentarians so that São Tomé and Príncipe’s anticipated oil exploration can contribute to the country’s development through an equitable distribution of oil wealth. Key to our work has been the recognition that information on what is happening in the oil sector is not readily accessible to people living beyond the capital, and this is the reason why Alert is trying to reach out to rural communities with activities such as road shows and street theatre.
The island of Príncipe, with a population of 6,000, is located close to the Joint Development Zone which the country shares with Nigeria. This area is expected to have a rich reserve of natural oil and gas. The road show, a combination of music, dance and active storytelling, part of Alert’s awareness campaign, passed through the small communities of Sundy, Porto Real and Nova Estrela as well as the island’s main settlement of Santo António. With the support of a local theatre company, Alert’s campaign spread information on recent oil developments, highlighted some of the key concerns about oil management and problems in trying to make a living faced by local people, and shared ideas for addressing these through lively debates and acting, which resulted in much entertainment as well as serious discussions.
Paulino Matins, Administrative Assistant for Sundy, emphasised the difference that oil money could make for the people of the locality, many of whom are only able to eat one meal a day because of poverty, if it is invested in health, education and infrastructures. Stressing that the money to be gained from oil will not last forever, those present at the road show also agreed that oil revenues will only change this situation if they are well managed.
The awareness campaign was especially timely given the launch of the first round of licensing bids for the Exclusive Economic Zone in London on 2nd March 2010, marking the first time that blocks of the country’s exclusive territory were auctioned to oil companies to conduct explorations. The campaign ensured that marginalised communities on the island were not only aware of this development, but also of its potential ramifications and impact on their lives.
This campaign, conducted as part of Alert’s USAID-funded project ‘Countering the Conflict Potential of Oil’, attracted wide media coverage and was featured on national and Príncipe-based radio stations and on national television, thereby ensuring that the information disseminated in the course of the public awareness campaign went beyond the communities visited and that issues of transparency and expenditure of oil revenues remain key in the country’s public discourse.