Petronia

Petronia is an introductory online interactive course on resource governance designed to feel like a simulation and a game.

Petronia is an introductory online interactive course on resource governance designed to feel like a simulation and a game. Petronia explores the policy challenges in a fictional developing country that has made a potentially transformative oil discovery. Online learners join a team of experts deployed to advise the country’s policy-makers in a series of missions which explore different aspects of resource governance over time. Immersed in this world, learners can consult stakeholders, analyze government and international reports, and develop recommendations with their team. Learners set their own pace as they build their knowledge of the technical issues while developing an understanding of the different perspectives and complex trade-offs of managing resource wealth for development. The course has four unique missions:

Mission 1: “Welcome to Petronia” focuses on introducing the user to “resource curse” challenges and to the Petronia country context, its political economy and governance issues as well as key players in the sector

Mission 2: “Getting a good deal” focuses on introducing the user to fiscal regimes and the challenges of defining a what is a good deal among all the tradeoffs that happen in a high stakes negotiation.

Mission 3: “Managing the revenues” focuses on introducing basic revenue management principles like volatility, exhaustibility, revenue sharing and dutch disease.

Mission 4: “Does production lead to prosperity” focuses on the role transparency and data play in supporting accountability for policy monitoring and enforcement.