Blog Archives

Making additionality count: Why development finance institutions must step up on transparency

By Ella Remande-Guyard | Apr 16, 2025 | Blog

As more public finance is channelled to the private sector in the name of development, we need to know: are these investments genuinely adding value, or are they just substituting what the market could do on its own? This is where additionality comes in: the idea that ODA should only be used when it delivers something that private capital cannot.
Our latest research explores how well donors and their bilateral DFIs are disclosing the additionality of their private sector instrument (PSI) investments using the new OECD-DAC reporting requirements.

How transparent are climate funds?

By Ryan Anderton and Alex Tilley | Apr 2, 2025 | Blog

Multilateral climate funds play a crucial role in channelling significant portions of climate finance and will be key in efforts to meet the new $300 billion goal. But what do we know about how this climate finance is deployed, who receives it and the impact it’s having? To gain an insight into the transparency of these funds we have investigated the four largest multilateral climate funds: the Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, Climate Investment Funds, and Adaptation Fund.

Expanding transparency beyond Official Development Assistance

By Sally Paxton, George Ingram and Guest | Mar 28, 2025 | Blog

As traditional aid shrinks, non-ODA financial flows are increasingly crucial. Their transparency, however, lags far behind. In this blog, Tessie San Martin, George Ingram and Sally Paxton assert that better visibility into non-ODA flows will unlock smarter investments and stronger outcomes. Therefore, extending transparency is essential to ensure new development funding achieves real impact

Is FFD4 turning its back on aid transparency?

By Gary Forster | Mar 25, 2025 | Blog

As the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) takes shape, there is a concerning silence around aid transparency. At a time when transparency is more vital than ever – to ensure that scarce development finance is accountable, effective, and impactful -it appears to be falling off the agenda.

Launching our 2025–2030 strategy: Strengthening transparency for greater impact

By Gary Forster and Guest | Mar 13, 2025 | Blog

We are proud to launch Publish What You Fund’s 2025–2030 strategy—an ambitious roadmap to reinforce transparency as a pillar of effective, accountable development finance. This strategy builds on years of progress while responding to the new challenges of our time.

Why US foreign assistance data must stay public: The case for aid transparency

By Sally Paxton and George Ingram | Feb 23, 2025 | Blog

Aid transparency is the law. The 2016 Foreign Aid Accountability Act and 2018 Evidence-Based Policymaking Act mandate public access to U.S. foreign assistance data. The removal of key USAID data sets and websites limits the ability to assess program effectiveness and spending. Without transparency, accountability weakens. The solution isn’t less data, but better data. Expanding subcontractor details and evaluations would strengthen oversight—not erase it.