Government representatives meeting recently in Paris agreed to proceed with plans to bring more transparency to development aid flows.
The decisions July 7 came despite some concerns among activists that governments were slackening in their attention to the International Aid Transparency Initiative.
It was agreed, however, that nothing would be taken out of the proposed IATI phase 1 or key elements of phase 2, according to a newsletter report by Publish What You Fund, the lead nongovernmental organization working on the issue.
On June 30, 36 civil society organizations sent letters to the ministers and presidents of the 18 signatory donors of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) asking them to use the 7th July Steering Committee meeting to deliver on their commitments to aid transparency.
Among other things, the letters urged:
To ensure this commitment can be honoured, we need your representative on the Steering Committee to support an aid transparency standard that ensures the provision of:
– up-to-date information on current aid flows to support improved management of these resources;
– information on future aid flows, to assist donors, NGOs and particularly recipients’ in planning and budgeting;
– the publication of aid information using common definitions and formats that are compatible with partner countries budgets and systems.
Filed under: IFTI Watch