The International Budget Partnership today releases their annual Open Budget Index. They recommend that international financial institutions and donors "Increase the transparency of aid flows and avoid off-budget funding. Wherever possible, channel aid flows through local budget systems. Where this is not possible, provide information on aid flows in formats that are compatible with local budget systems, using government classification systems and respecting budget calendars."

Read the full report

One day before the release of their annual Open Budget Index, the International Budget Partnership finds that "governments, the international community and CSOs must make further efforts to promote budget transparency and accountability"

Read this article in full on the International Budget Partnership website

(USA) – Publish What You Fund today welcomed the release of two memos by the Obama administration on transparency and open government. In the first, it sets out that government should be open, participatory, and collaborative, and the second urges a presumption in favour of disclosure.

Full text of the Obama transparency memos

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

 

For Immediate Release January 21, 2009

January 21, 2009

 

As part of a special issue on transparency, Drum Beat introduces the Publish What You Fund campaign and explains why its aims are so important: lack of aid transparency leads to inefficiency and risks of heightened corruption.

Read the full article. 

On 14 December 2008, leading experts from around the world meeting at a conference co-organized by Access Info Europe adopted the Budapest Declaration which calls for the right of access to information to apply to all States at all levels of government, to intergovernmental organizations, and also to other bodies undertaking public functions.

Meeting in Paris on 26 November 2008, the Steering Committee of the International Aid Transparency Initiative, which includes Publish What You Fund represented by Director Karin Christiansen, agreed a plan of activities for advancing standard-setting on aid transparency.