2024 Aid Transparency Index shows how aid data is more accessible and useful – and why it has never been more needed

The 2024 Aid Transparency Index highlights:

• The highest recorded scores for the world’s major aid agencies – more agencies achieve scores in the ‘very good’ category and the highest ever average score.
• The Index itself is a powerful driver of change in transparency policy and practice.
• More aid and development agencies, journalists, think tanks and civil society organisations are using the data to improve aid effectiveness and hold donors to account for their commitments to tackle poverty, conflict and the climate crisis.
• The African Development Bank -Sovereign Portfolio retained its top spot in the Index, with a score of 98.8 out of 100. The Inter-American Development Bank ranked second with a score of 96.3, and the highest-ranking bilateral aid agency, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation came third with 93.0.
• Some agencies still have a long way to go to improve their transparency, and more information on impact and performance is urgently needed.

The 2024 Aid Transparency Index has recorded its highest ever scores – marking a continued improvement in aid transparency among the world’s major aid and development agencies. Released today by Publish What You Fund, the Index found advancements in the quality, quantity and timeliness of aid data. The average score across all 50 organisations in 2024 was the highest seen so far at 64.4 (compared with 61.8 in 2022). More organisations achieved scores in the top ‘very good’ category (12) and fewer organisations than ever before were in the bottom ‘very poor’ category (2).

All but one of the assessed organisations are publishing at least some data in the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Standard – meaning it is open, standardised, comparable and machine readable.

The Index also highlights how aid transparency data is being used more than ever by aid and development agencies, journalists, think tanks and civil society organisations. And high-quality, real time aid data is needed more than ever to improve aid effectiveness and hold donors to account for their commitments to tackle poverty, conflict and the climate crisis.

Despite the positive results, impact data including results and evaluations remains a challenge. The gaps in the data are significant, but this shouldn’t distract from the extremely valuable and high quality evaluations available in the IATI data.

Gary Forster, CEO of Publish What You Fund, said:

“Many agencies still have a lot of work to do to become truly transparent, but it’s really positive to see the efforts which are being made to improve the quantity, quality and timeliness of the aid data they publish. It’s also heartening to see that the Index provides an important incentive for change – both as a public ranking and as a mechanism for detailed feedback and engagement. We’ve witnessed examples of agencies fixing policies and making institutional changes that will have a genuine and long-lasting affect on their transparency.”

The African Development Bank -Sovereign Portfolio retained its top spot in the Index, with an impressive score of 98.8 out of 100.

Dr Akinwumi Adesina., African Development Bank Group President, said:

“I am delighted by this recognition from Publish What You Fund. It is a testament once again to the commitment of the Bank’s Board, management, and staff to continuously improve the disclosure of aid flows by providing consistent, high-quality, and easily accessible data. This achievement is especially significant given the new, more rigorous assessment standards and transparency requirements for development financial institutions. The rating of our sovereign portfolio as the most transparent development organization in the world for the second consecutive time, is simply extraordinary. I commend Publish What You Fund for the vital and much needed work it does, in making aid and development efforts more transparent and effective.”

Alex Tilley, who researched and authored the report, said:

“It’s important to explain why now, aid transparency is more important than ever. Not least because we’re facing global challenges which need a coordinated response between donors. But also because we’re seeing aid and development data increasingly used for decision making by policy makers and those looking to influence policy. As such if a donor is not transparent their role and impact will be misunderstood at best, or invisible at worst.”

The 2024 Aid Transparency Index report is available here. The Index website provides details of the scores and analysis of the performance of each donor.

The 2024 Aid Transparency Index will be launched at a hybrid event hosted by the Brookings Institution on Tuesday 16th July at 9:30am EDT, 2:30pm BST, 3:30pm CEST. Register for the event here.