Blog Archives

A new frontier in aid transparency? Private sector aid contractors

By Alex Tilley | Sep 12, 2023 | Blog

We’ve been analysing the transparency of private aid contractors. These organisations handle billions of dollars of aid money, yet the largest players are almost completely un-transparent. This limits both accountability and the scope for analysis of international aid flows. We take a deep dive into the transparency of two of these companies, Chemonics and Adam Smith International, and provide clear policy recommendations to help improve the visibility of the aid that flows through them.

Exploring IATI data wells with publisher owned portals

By Elma Jenkins and Guest | Sep 6, 2023 | Blog

The second blog in our series exploring aid data tools discusses portals produced by countries or institutions to provide access to their aid and development data. Elma Jenkins and Rolf Kleef review the differing levels of complexity – from high-level overviews to detailed data from multiple organisations and multiple data sources. They consider what features make for an accessible data portal, and provide a comprehensive list of the portals currently available.

Who will be assessed in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index?

By Elma Jenkins and Alex Tilley | Aug 7, 2023 | Blog

We are pleased to announce which 50 aid and development organisations have been selected for inclusion in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index. Here we outline the selection criteria, which three organisations have been added and which three organisations have been removed from the Index. We also set out the timescale for data collection and analysis over the coming year.

2024 Aid Transparency Index: methodology update

By Elma Jenkins and Alex Tilley | Jul 26, 2023 | Blog

We recently opened our Aid Transparency Index methodology to public consultation. In this blog we describe how stakeholders were consulted, and the resulting changes to the methodology for the 2024 Index.

Reflections on the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact: more mobilisation promised, but will we ever know if it has been delivered?

By Paul James | Jul 12, 2023 | Blog

The mobilisation of private finance for development outcomes was a central part of the discussions during the recent Paris summit, with more emphasis placed on the need to mobilise “at scale”. However, without improved measurement and increased transparency, it will be impossible to tell whether or not these new commitments deliver on their promises.

A fair share? Reflections on USAID’s first localization progress report

By Sally Paxton and Gary Forster | Jun 28, 2023 | Blog

USAID has just provided a detailed update on its goal to direct 25% of its funding to local actors by 2025. Earlier this year, Publish What You Fund investigated the measurement of this 25% target and concluded that the choice of methodology could determine whether more than US$1.4 billion of additional funding is channeled to local actors each year. So we have been taking a close look at USAID’s progress report and the measures used.