This time next month we’ll be joined by friends and colleagues from across the globe as we announce the results of the 2020 Aid Transparency Index. At this time of global pandemic, the transparency of aid remains critically important: for holding donors to account, for tracking spending and ensuring aid gets to where it is needed. In this blog Gary Forster reflects on what we learnt from the last Index, and where we go from here.

Who would have thought that producing the only independent measure of aid transparency among the world’s major development agencies could be so hard! In this blog, Gary Forster tells his story of getting involved in the sampling of 20,000 documents and data points, the complexity and volume of work involved, and why he’s proud of the rigour.

The Publish What You Fund team has so far checked over 6,000 pieces of data published by 47 aid donors, and we’re only halfway through the Aid Transparency Index process. In this blog Elma Jenkins discusses why quality checks are essential for the Index and why, whether you’re looking for an Italian restaurant or details on aid projects, we all need data we can trust.