Aid Transparency
Aid Transparency
Access Info is part of a global campaign to promote transparency of international aid. We started researching this field in 2007 and in 2008, alongside Tiri, we helped to launch the Publish What You Fund initiative. Access Info helped draft a set of principles, the Aid Transparency Principles and has conducted monitoring of donor government transparency. We also conduct training and provide assistance to civil society organisations in developing countries who are trying to get more information about international aid flows.
The Aid Transparency Principles (Draft for Consultation)
The Aid Transparency Principles (Draft for Consultation)
Every year the world’s richest countries spend millions of taxpayers' money on helping people in the world’s poorest countries get out of poverty. This international aid money is spent on food, on schools and hospitals, and on reforming systems of government. The goal is to fight poverty and promote sustainable development. There is much debate over how effectively this money is spent, but without full transparency, it is impossible for members of the public to judge.
International Aid Transparency Initiative
The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) is a multi-stakeholder, government-led initiative which aims to increase the availability and accessibility of aid information.
The IATI focuses on donor transparency and is working to agree common standards of aid information that must be published by donors, taking into account the needs of all stakeholders. By aiming to make more aid information accessible the IATI is working to increase the ability of stakeholders to participate in decision making, increase aid effectiveness and address poverty.
As an NGO Access Info is not a member of the IATI but we see it as an important development in establishing aid transparency and ensuring that adequate information is available about aid.
As part of our work on aid transparency Access Info has contributed comments and recommendations throughout the consultation process of the development of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).
Below are the IATI documents that have so far been open for consultation and our contributions to these consultations.
IATI Scoping paper for consultation, February 2009
Access Info comments on IATI Scoping paper, February 2009
IATI Draft standard part one, October 2009
IATI Draft standard part four, October 2009
Access Info comments on parts one and four of the IATI standard, October 2009
20 October 2009
New Report on Aid Transparency: Not Available! Not Accessible!
Donor governments are failing to make available the information needed to prevent corruption in international aid projects and to permit taxpayers to evaluate the effectiveness of aid spending, according to a the report "Not Available! Not Accessible!" launched today by Access Info Europe.
The study found that only half (52%) of the basic information which should be published on aid agency is available. The evaluation of the websites of five leading aid agencies from Canada, France, Norway, Spain, and the UK, ranked Norway’s aid agency lowest with just 30% and found that the UK’s Department for International Development provided most information, achieving a score of 68%.
An absence of information about anti-corruption mechanisms was another key finding. The typical integrity mechanisms which donors promote in developing countries such as corruption risk assessments, gifts registers, assets declarations, and whistleblower protections were missing from the websites of the five donor agencies surveyed.
The Aid Transparency Toolkit
22 October 2009: Access Info today launched the Aid Transparency Toolkit, a guide for civil society organisations and members of the public interested in knowing more about how aid works and where the money goes to get the answers to their questions.
The toolkit provides answers to basic questions such as: What is the right of access to information? How do I get information about aid? Who can make a request? Where do I start looking? Do I have to pay a fee? How should I formulate my request? Who do I send it to? When will I receive the information? What do I do if my request is ignored or refused?
