CIVICUS report on aid transparency and CSOs
A report released yesterday by CIVICUS includes a commentary by Publish What You Fund Director, Karin Christiansen, on aid transparency and what it means for CSOs (p.115-116); from the availability of accurate information on donor spending for use in advocacy efforts, to saving staff time on costly reporting for different funders.
The report refers to the International Aid Transparency Initiative as the standard through which CSOs will be able to access this useful aid information:
“A key question for CSOs is whether they have sufficient resources to respond to the connected crises the world faces, and how those crises are affecting their funding positions […] In response many CSOs are paying more attention to fundraising and diversification of funding sources. Difficulties in analysis remain due to the lack of availability of comparable and up to date data from donors, which the growth of the International Aid Transparency Initiative may help to address”. p.15
Although the recent success of the initiative is highlighted, the report stresses the need for donors’ rhetoric to become reality: “Although key advances on aid transparency were made at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness IV in Busan, more progress is still needed. New donor countries must commit to take real action on aid transparency.” p.16