In February 2011, we achieved a critical goal when the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) agreed a common data standard. For the first time, there was international agreement on exactly how aid information should be published in order to meet the needs of both donor and recipient countries.
With our partners, we launched the hugely successful Make Aid Transparent in June 2011 which to date has close to 65,000 signatures.
At the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in Busan in December 2011, the world’s most prominent development actors committed to publishing their aid information by 2015. We are now working to ensure that donors redouble efforts to fulfil their commitments.
In March 2012, we ensured transparency remained a crucial component of the Open Government Partnership, a global initiative that brings together civil society, donors, and the private sector to promote transparent, effective, and accountable governments.
A common, open standard for publishing aid information was agreed by the OECD Working Party on Aid Effectiveness in June 2012. As a key member of the Working Party, which includes donors, recipients and civil society, our specific aim was to ensure that the international commitments made at Busan were carried forward.
In April 2013, the Adaptation Fund became the first climate agency to sign IATI.
What others say:
“Incredible as it may seem, just 12 months ago [the UK] government did not publish details of how our development money was spent… Today, people all around the world can go online and see every item of DFID spending over £500 and see evaluations of the impact of that spending. Over the next 12 months, we’ll go even further.” – UK Prime Minister David Cameron, June 2011
“The World Bank sees openness and transparency as key to delivering better development results and strengthening accountability…we appreciate your leadership in advancing this agenda.” - Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, Sept 2012
“I had the opportunity to discuss this Administration’s commitment to transparency…at the launch of Publish What You Fund’s informative and authoritative Aid Transparency Index 2012. The Administration welcomes civil society efforts to monitor foreign aid progress on transparency and hopes that the index will continue to expand as more non-governmental organizations make their aid data available.” - USAID Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg, Oct 2012
“From the Honduran perspective, publishing user-friendly aid information on a timely basis under IATI will allow our citizens to track what aid is being used for and especially to monitor what it is achieving. This will also help the government manage aid more effectively, so that every dollar destined towards fighting poverty does so.” – Honduras Ministry of Social Development Vice-minister, Lidia Fromm Cea, Nov 2012
