GIZ Book Sprint finished the book “Treasure Hunt”

After a five-day Book Sprint, a group of ten contributors finished the book Treasure Hunt – How Good Financial Governance can support resource-endowed countries in achieving the SDGs.

“Treasure Hunt, a term referring to both the gold digger atmosphere that surrounds the exploration of natural resources and the often Don-Quijotian quest of public officials for revenues.” (from the Foreword)

Book cover designed by Henrik van Leeuwen

Amidst rain and sunshine (but more rain), with the river Rhine swelling until it flooded the banks behind the GIZ academy’s garden, the participants stayed inside and worked long days (and some long evenings, too). From Monday to Friday they conceptualized, structured, wrote, discussed, re-wrote and edited the book on good financial governance in the extractive sector. During five productive days, the team focused on the technical, political and normative challenges resource-endowed developing countries face regarding Public Finance Management systems and the management of resource revenues. The discussions moved from technical fiscal issues to expectation management, climate change and equity considerations.

Discussing the availability of data for transparency, oversight and accountability on day 1

The team consisted of of GIZ advisors working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Germany. They were joined by two external experts from Australia and the USA. The Book Sprint is a facilitated collaborative writing technique in which participants constantly brainstorm, write, edit and copy-edit each other in a workflow that manages to combine high fluidity with structure.

Photos of the Book Sprint can be seen here on flickr.