Download the Assessment (PDF, 3128KB)
Download the Data (XLSX, 92KB)
Download the Paris Presentation (PPT, 346KB)Publish What You Fund has developed an Aid Transparency Assessment. This is the first global assessment for aid transparency and we plan to produce more in the future.
We compare the transparency of 30 major donors using eight data sources across seven weighted indicators that fall into three categories – high level commitment to transparency; transparency to recipient government; and transparency to civil society.
The assessment is available to download here. You can also experiment with the weighting and see how this affects the overall score.
Our first major finding is that there is a lack of comparable and primary data available. This meant we couldn’t do the type of bottom up assessment we wanted to and highlights the essential nature of what donors are doing in building an international standard. The indicators we developed from the limited data available provide an interesting insight into the comparisons of current levels of donor transparency.
We found that there is a wide variation in levels of donor aid transparency and that donors showed significant weaknesses across the seven indicators. The highest performing donor (the World Bank) achieved more than double the transparency score (85.4%) of the lowest (Japan with 41.9%).
Wide variation in levels of donor performance
We are planning to carry on with this work on an annual basis. Our hope is that in future there will be with more comprehensive, comparable and timely data for us to draw on. We would very much appreciate feedback, suggestions and thoughts on how to take this work forward.
Is there an observable link between transparency and effectiveness?
I suppose this assessment is useful up to a point, but it is surreal to see high points for the World Bank, an organization that is not well known for its effectiveness. There is not much benefit in disclosure of information if it reveals virtually nothing of the cost effectiveness of performance against strategic priorities.
I had another look, very clear and impressive. I would just suggest adding a bit about why transparency is desirable, early on.
@Robin: Thank you for your comment, Robin. The assessment ranks the aid transparency of each agency or institution and does not as you say address broader issues of effectiveness. The recent QuODA report looks at the quality of aid more broadly which includes IDA. The World Bank’s level of transparency is probably linked to the effective campaigning work undertaken by civil society organisations. As the assessment explains we would have liked to look at transparency levels at the country level (which may have showed differences in the World Bank’s performance across countries) but unfortunately there is not the information available to do an assessment at this level.