(USA) - The German Marhsall Fund's Transatlantic Taskforce on Development consists of 24 members from the USA, Canada and Europe. In their report's section on "Building Mutual Accountability," (p57-59) they point to the work of Publish What You Fund, as well as the International Aid Transparency Initiative and the Accra Agenda for Action. Their key recommendation is that "Donors need to deliver on promises to increase their own transparency and predictability," but the recommendations should really be read in full.

(USA) - A conference at NYU debated the issues surrounding aid transparency, accountability and evaluation, including the Director of Publish What You Fund, Karin Christiansen. You can see her presentation here.

William Easterly argued inadequate transparency, feedback and accountability mechanisms are undermining aid effectiveness.

As part of a special issue on transparency, Drum Beat introduces the Publish What You Fund campaign and explains why its aims are so important: lack of aid transparency leads to inefficiency and risks of heightened corruption.

Read the full article. 

Douglas Alexander delivered a speech on the need for greater transparency in international aid. He highlighted the International Aid Transparency Initiative, launched by the UK in Accra in September with the support of 13 major donors. Publish What You Fund is noted as a key supporter of this initiative. Mr Alexander draws attention to several of the successes of the Accra meeting.

Watch the speech.

The Director of Publish What You Fund, Karin Christiansen, is interviewed in this issue, in a Special Collection on "Perspectives after Accra". Christiansen emphasises the challenges of aid effectiveness and the vital role transparency plays in creating ownership by aid recipients, and for accountability by both partners. She also discusses the role of civil society organisations in enhancing transparency.

Click here for a link to the interview.

The UN news agency IRIN ran an article focusing on Publish What You Fund. Karin Christiansen, the Director, noted that Ugandan officials reported only knowing about half the aid projects underway in their country in 2006: the fear of acknowledging failure prevents donors from being more transparent. However, Christiansen suggests there is strong cause for optimism with signs of a shift of culture in the sector.

Click here for the article.

Bringing together the voices of Ugandan Officials and DFID representatives, this short article emphasizes how Publish What You Fund marks a widespread recognition that aid flows must be proactively published in order to support increased transparency and empower those in recipient countries.

This piece presents how the Publish What You Fund Principles with their emphasis on proactive access to information relate to concrete examples of aid effectiveness.

This article discusses the outcomes of the Accra Forum on Aid Effectiveness. A last-minute addition to the Accra Agenda for Action recognised the role of Civil Society Organisations as third party monitors and active participants in the dialogue. Publish What You Fund was launched in the eve of the Forum, a fact that he notes with optimism. Kaufmann considers what the Forum achieved (and where it failed), and the way forward for aid effectiveness initiatives.

(Accra/London/Madrid) - The Publish What You Fund campaign today called on donor governments to act immediately on commitments to greater transparency of aid made yesterday (4 September 2008) in the Accra Agenda for Action on Aid Effectiveness.