The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together to improve openness and accountable management of revenues from natural resources.

The EITI holds a Global Conference once every two years, bringing together all stakeholders of the EITI. During these conferences, a smaller Members' Meeting with the three constituency groups - countries (implementing and supporting), companies (including institutional investors) and civil society organisations - takes place. The main task of the Members' Meeting is to appoint an EITI Board for the next two years.

Between the global conferences, the EITI Board oversees the Initiative. The Board has 20 members, with the different constituencies being entitled to representation. The Chair of the Board, currently Clare Short, is independent. All implementing and supporting countries are entitled to be members of the EITI Association. It is up to the respective constituencies to agree among themselves their membership of the Association and who they wish to nominate to the Board. 

EITI's governance structure is codified in the Articles of Association for the EITI Association. The EITI Association operates under Norwegian law as a non-profit organisation, which includes the EITI International Secretariat.

The international community provides support of EITI implementation both bilaterally and through the EITI Multi-Donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank. The Secretariat is funded by the supporting countries and the supporting companies. Implementing country governments pay for the implementation and Validation of their EITI process. 

The EITI leads to wide range of benefits:

• Governments benefit from following an internationally recognised transparency standard that demonstrates commitment to reform and anti-corruption, and leads to improvements to the tax collection process and enhanced trust and stability in a volatile sector.
• Companies benefit from a level playing field in which all companies are required to disclose the same information. They also benefit from an improved and more stable investment climate in which they can more effectively engage with citizens and civil society.
• Citizens and civil society benefit from receiving reliable information about the sector and a multi-stakeholder platform where they can better hold the government and companies to account.
• Energy security is enhanced by a more transparent and level playing field. This increased stability encourages long-term investment in production – and thus improves the reliability of supply.