Gary Forster

Foreign Aid Allocation Without Aid Transparency

By Gary Forster and Guest | Jul 3, 2019 | Blog

Governments should allocate ODA budgets through the channels that will most effectively alleviate poverty and contribute to the SDGs. How do we know that development finance institutions (DFIs) are an appropriate vehicle for ODA spend? In the latest blog in our series on DFI transparency, Gary Forster teams up with CAFOD’s Dario Kenner to explore how governments and shareholders can be confident that DFI investments are delivering impact and value for money. Taking the example of the UK’s CDC Group, they ask If CDC’s portfolio is making a game-changing contribution to the SDGs.

Fostering Trust – Why Aid Transparency Matters

By James Coe and Gary Forster | Jun 5, 2019 | Blog

We have encountered many citizens and activists who are seeking answers on aid spending. This blog recalls just a few of their experiences and examines how transparency can help to build trust.

Traceability, or not?

By Alex Tilley and Gary Forster | May 21, 2019 | Blog

Tracing resources along the development chain, from source to frontline expenditure, is an important element of transparency for all data users. We recently produced a visualisation of all the links between current IATI data. The results surprised us, and this blog explains why.

Reflections on the Development Finance Debate: Putting Principles into Practice

By Gary Forster | Jan 31, 2019 | Blog

The debate on the role of private finance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is intense and lively. The need for transparency comes up again and again. But how do we move from debate to action?

Can You Measure What You Can’t See?

By Gary Forster | Jan 9, 2019 | Blog

Next week is Private Finance for Sustainable Development Week – an annual OECD event that brings together the public and private sector to discuss new approaches in using private finance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Naturally the role of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) will be included in these discussions by virtue of the financial muscle they bring to the table. And as part of our ongoing work on DFI Transparency we’ll be there.
In this blog we question the value of increasing the focus on impact measurement if development objectives, results and lessons learned are not transparent.

Aid and Development Finance Data – From Useful to Useable

By Gary Forster | Nov 29, 2018 | Blog

The aid transparency community has a decision to make. All at once we need to raise awareness of the presence of huge volumes of aid and development finance information, and at the same time support new and existing users when they have challenges accessing it. In short, as more people look to IATI as a […]