Our regular roundup of news on aid and development transparency – featuring the 2024 Aid Transparency Index launch and results, plus news on the timeline and introduction of climate finance indicators to the 2025 DFI Transparency Index.
Work on the second DFI Transparency Index is underway, in preparation for launch in July 2025. The Index ranks the transparency of the world’s leading development finance institutions (DFIs) and encourages improvement. We recently completed a methodology review, involving stakeholder consultation, to improve the rigour of the DFI Transparency Index, while maintaining comparability between the 2023 and 2025 editions. Here we set out the changes that have been made to the methodology, including the addition of new climate finance indicators.
We’re excited to announce that the launch of the 2024 Aid Transparency Index will take place on Tuesday 16 July at 9.30 EDT / 2.30 BST. The event will be hosted by Brookings Center for Sustainable Development in Washington DC and online.
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. 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).
The UK has returned to the top ten most transparent aid and development donors, according to the 2024 Aid Transparency Index. It reveals that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) now ranks in the “very good” category after a big drop in the last Index. It scored 82.9 points out of 100, up an impressive 11 points from 2022.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has made a bold
commitment to the localization agenda: it has set a target that 25% of its funding will go directly to local partners by 2025. However, our new analysis shows that how USAID defines and measures localization is actually undermining its progress and at odds with its aim to increase the diversity of local partners and amplify under-represented voices. It is allowing perverse incentives – such as affiliates of international organizations to be counted as local – and leaving significant funding opportunities – such as projectized funding that currently goes to UN agencies and multilaterals – untapped for local partners.
