The FCDO dropped 13.5 points in the 2022 Aid Transparency Index compared with DFID’s score in 2020. This means no UK agencies are in the “very good” category – the first time this has happened since the categories were introduced in 2013.
Aid NGOs are calling for transparency around how the UK government is cutting its aid programmes. Publish What You Fund, Bond and Development Initiatives warn that decisions are being taken behind closed doors without proper scrutiny or consultation, arguing that this poses a serious threat to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
The 2020 Aid Transparency Index reveals an improvement in overall transparency among the world’s major aid agencies, but a worrying lack of transparency on the impact of aid projects. Produced by Publish What You Fund, the Index is the only independent measure of aid transparency among the world’s major aid donors. As billions of aid dollars are re-directed to the COVID-19 emergency, it provides a timely reminder of the importance of aid transparency and what can be achieved when it is valued and institutionalised.
The 2020 Aid Transparency Index reveals an improvement in overall transparency among the world’s major aid agencies, but there remains a gulf in the performance of the two UK donors included in the ranking. Released today by Publish What You Fund, the Index is the only independent measure of aid transparency among the world’s major aid donors. The research, undertaken before last week’s announcement of a merger, shows that while DFID remained in the ‘very good’ category as a global leader in aid transparency, the FCO ranked 38th out of 47 donors and failed to publish adequate information on the performance of its aid projects. As the shrinking UK economy puts aid under increasing financial pressure and resources are redirected to respond to the COVID-19 emergency, the Index results provide a timely reminder that we need to know that our aid is being spent in the most effective way to achieve the greatest impact.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has come out as the top bilateral aid agency globally in the 2020 Aid Transparency Index. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also showed significant improvement, increasing its score to put it near the top of the “good” category for the first time.
Only three out of ten government departments have reached the level of transparency set out in its 2015 UK Aid Strategy. Our detailed review assessed ten government departments spending significant amounts of official development assistance (ODA) and found that they all now share some data on their aid and many have improved the regularity and quantity of information they make available through the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). However, currently only the Department for International Development (DFID), the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy meet the aid transparency targets the government is due to meet by 2020.
