Gary Forster

How to track aid flows to local organisations

By Gary Forster | May 19, 2022 | Blog

Many donors have adopted targets to direct more funding to local organisations. But past efforts to track funding flows have often struggled to agree on a definition of local. In this blog we present an approach we’ve been testing for six months. Using USAID as an example, we’ve been working to understand, interpret and present existing data in a way that enables stakeholders to undertake analysis and track funding based on their own definitions of local.

Where we’ve come from and where we’re heading – the launch of our new three-year strategy

By Gary Forster and Guest | Nov 17, 2021 | Blog, News

The way we think and talk about aid transparency is evolving. Our new three-year strategy sets out how we want to work and what we want to achieve by 2024. We are moving towards a definition of transparency which includes not just publication but engagement and accountability. In this blog, our Chair, Paul Lenz, and CEO, Gary Forster, provide more insights into our thinking, focus areas and goals.

Democratising development finance – an interview with Aubrey Hruby

By Gary Forster | Jun 29, 2021 | Blog

Our DFI Transparency Initiative has benefitted from the input of experts from development finance institutions (DFIs) themselves, from civil society organisations, and from private sector investors. Aubrey Hruby has been on the Project Advisory Board since the initiative’s inception and brings a wealth of experience of helping investors understand and enter African capital markets. Aubrey shared her perspective on how better transparency can drive more equitable access to development finance when she sat down with our CEO, Gary Forster.

Why DFI transparency matters for the private sector – An interview with Nadia Nikolova

By Gary Forster | May 11, 2021 | Blog

Our DFI Transparency Initiative has completed its fourth Work Stream (Value of Investment: Mobilisation & Structure of Deal). The research report identifies a number of areas where consistency of reporting and Development Finance Institution (DFI) transparency could be improved. Here our CEO, Gary Forster, speaks with Nadia Nikolova, portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors about why DFI transparency is important for the private sector.

Moving markets: the potential for DFI transparency – an interview with Thomas Venon

By Gary Forster | May 5, 2021 | Blog

Our DFI Transparency Initiative has completed its fourth research Work Stream (Value of Investment: Mobilisation & Structure of Deal). The research report identifies a number of areas where consistency of reporting and Development Finance Institution (DFI) transparency could be improved. However, we also wanted to understand why this data matters to those in the development finance space, the hard reality of what’s available and what’s not, and the arguments behind why transparency is so important. Our CEO, Gary Forster, sat down with Thomas Venon, founding partner of Eighteen East Capital, to discuss our research findings.

Why does the transparency of ESG and community engagement matter to DFIs? – an interview with Peter Woicke

By Gary Forster | Feb 24, 2021 | Blog

Our DFI Transparency Initiative has completed its third research Work Stream onESG and accountability to communities, which identified a number of areas where the transparency of Development Finance Institutions could be improved. Our CEO Gary Forster wanted to explore why more transparent and better risk management and accountability is in the best interest of DFIs themselves, and so talked to Peter Woicke about our findings. Peter is the former CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Managing Director of the World Bank from 1999 to 2005.