The Prime Minister of Haiti, Bellerive, has responded to the levels of aid pledged to rebuild the country with a commitment of his own. Acknowledging that Haiti has, ‘a credibility problem’, symptomatic of so many countries with less developed public infrastructures, he stresses the need to ‘prove to all the people we are working with that we have transparency …

‘Aid Transparency: The Practitioners’ Perspective’ by Karin Christiansen has been published in the Yale Journal of International Affairs, presenting the main issues, challenges and benefits for aid transparency.

The International Donor Conference saw representatives of NGOs from around the world come together to agree the approach for rebuilding Haiti. With consensus that accountability and transparency is essential, this should begin a process which promises to bring increased coordination and effectiveness to the development effort.

Owen Barder, Director of AidInfo, a project of Development Initiatives, argues an important case for aid transparency in his excellent development blog illustrating another angle from which transparency is necessary for getting the best out of aid.

Today, 31^st March, sees international donors meeting at the United Nations to discuss the future of Haiti. Daniel Kaufmann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, believes the necessity of transparency of aid information in Haiti’s reconstruction is magnified by the threat of state capture.