The ‘mark up’ of the new US Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act 2009 (HR 2139) has been postponed. The bill which includes major advance on aid transparency, has been delayed whilst debates around the National Strategy for Global Development elements of the Bill continue.

Congressman Berman is said to be committed to pushing the bill sooner rather than later and Publish What You Fund looks forward to continued improvements in US aid transparency efforts.

One week before EU Development Ministers meet in Brussels, a new report from AidWatch and CONCORD, the European coalition of development NGOS, reveals the rankings of European governments on the basis of aid transparency.

Press Release

Publish What You Fund

The Global Campaign for Aid Transparency

www.publishwhatyoufund.org

ONE and Publish What You Fund today welcomed legislation that directs the Obama administration to develop and implement a national strategy to modernize US foreign assistance. This bill is an important opening move in a broader effort to make U.S. foreign assistance more strategic, effective, and transparent.

Yesterday U.S. Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009 (HR 2139), a bipartisan bill designed to increase accountability and improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid. The Bill lays the ground work for a major increase in the transparency of U.S. aid.

Publish What You Fund congratulates Chairman Berman and the other co-sponsors of this important piece of legislation.

(NEW YORK) – Publish What You Fund is highlighted in a post on NYU’s Aid Watch website, as Bill Easterly praises (and lends his own support to) Bono’s backing for the Publish What You Fund campaign.

Read the full post here

Berman referred to the bill as “a down payment on foreign aid reform” that would serve as a “forcing mechanism” to get the administration thinking about long-term policy and not just immediate crises. “ There are three parts to the bill: an overarching strategy, monitoring and evaluation and, as we are very pleased to note, aid transparency.

The bill will be followed later in the year by an “enormous rewrite” of the Foreign Assistance Act, which has been altered numerous times since it was first introduced in 1961.