Posts Tagged ‘aid transparency’
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30 October 2014
FOI Notes: UK, India, UK, OGP, Open Budgets, Pakistan, More
United Kingdom: Joe Reddington in a blog post writes about a paper by Alexander J Fowler, and others: “The UK Freedom of Information Act (2000) in healthcare research: a systematic review.“ In an interview, Fowler says among other things: I think the FOI Act is a hugely powerful tool for medical research – especially policy type […]
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9 October 2014
Reports Finds Few Donors Meeting Transparency Goals
Many international aid organizations are “dragging their feet” in meeting commitments to make their finances more transparent, according to a report released Oct. 8. The Aid Transparency Index 2014 report evaluates how well countries and other international aid donors are doing in fulfilling transparency commitments made at the 2011 Busan development summit. “This is a […]
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27 August 2013
FOI Notes: Manning, World Bank, UK, US, Open Data, OGP, India, Grants
Whistle-Blowing: A post on the Open Society Foundations website says the 35 year sentence for Bradley Manning is out of step with the punishment he would have received in other democracies, and certainly not in line with international law, including as the Tshwane Principles. IFTI Watch: The World Bank has released a new report — […]
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10 January 2013
FOI Notes: Chile, Social Media, FOI Journalism, Open Data, Social Media, China, Aid Transparency
Chile: Chilean journalists think there´s more transparency in Chile now, but there still are institutions that are very slow to provide the answers. Almost 500 Chilean journalists participated in a survey (in Spanish) by the National Press Association (Asociación Nacional de la Prensa “ANP”) about the state of the access to public information, according to a […]
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3 December 2012
UNDP Announces Portal on Development Efforts
The United Nations Development Programme Nov. 30 launched “a new online portal allowing users access to data on its work in 177 countries and territories, in an effort to fulfill its transparency commitments.” Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, said open access will allow the public to monitor UNDP investments in poverty and sustainable human development for […]
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26 November 2012
FOI Notes: Requester Privacy, Aid Transparency, Open Data, Jobs, More
Privacy for Requesters?: “Protecting the Freedom of Information Act Requestor: Privacy for Information Seekers,” an article by Sarah Shik Lamdan in the Kansas Journal of Law & Pubic Policy, Vol. 21, p. 221, 2012. The abstract says: FOIA requests are one of the foremost tools of American democracy, a primary means for assuring government transparency. […]
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26 October 2012
IFIs Rate Low on Access by Publish What Your Fund
International financial institutions fared poorly in the “freedom of information” category of the recently issued ratings by Publish What Your Fund. Although the development banks ranked high overall on the 43 factors used, their scores in the access to information category merited red dots. The red dots signified “poor legislation” in the category, just one […]
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1 October 2012
Publish What You Fund Reports Improved Picture
Publish What You Fund on Oct. 1 reported that “donor transparency is on the rise but continues to fall short of best practice.” In a report ranking 72 donor organizations on their levels of aid transparency, the organization said, “This is particularly disappointing at a time when transparency is critical to ensuring confidence in aid […]
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30 July 2012
Bill Clinton Urges More Transparency on AIDS Funds
More openness is required about funding to fight AIDS, former U.S. President Bill Clinton said July 27 at an international conference in Washington. “We can target the money we are spending more effectively,” Clinton said, according to news reports. “This may be somewhat controversial but I feel strongly about it. We need a new level […]
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29 June 2012
Agreement on Publishing Aid Data Reached by OECD Group
A common, open standard for publishing development aid information has been agreed by the OECD Working Party on Aid Effectiveness which met June 28-29 in Paris, according to a press release from Publish What You Fund. United Kingdom Development Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell will co-chair the new Global Partnership, is quoted as saying, “The […]
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2 December 2011
Aid Transparency Endorsed at Conference in Busan, Korea
Officials from some 160 countries meeting in Busan, South Korea, agreed Dec. 1 that development aid should be spent more efficiently and more transparently. Delegates adopted a 12-page non-binding declaration that will “establish a new, inclusive and representative Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation to support and ensure accountability for the implementation of commitments at the […]
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17 November 2011
Publish What You Fund Rates 58 Donors on Transparency
Publish What You Fund has launched the 2011 pilot Aid Transparency Index ranking 58 donors on their levels of aid transparency and finding them wanted. The index uses 37 indicators of aid transparency to rate donors at the organisation, country and activity level. “The report finds that the majority of aid donors are not publishing […]
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10 June 2011
Aid Transparency Group Launches Petition Drive
A coalition of over 50 civil society groups from 20 countries June 8 launched a campaign Make Aid Transparent, which calls on governments and other aid donors to publish more and better information about the money they give. The effort includes a petition drive and an explanatory animation. “Providing more and better information about aid […]
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4 March 2011
Focus Aid Transparency on Recipients, Barder Says
Aid transparency activist Owen Barder stresses the need to focus on the needs of aid recipients, such as transparency of spending execution, in an extensive blog post in which he consolidates lessons he has learned. Although hinting at an upcoming “new role,” Owen Barder is a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development in […]
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7 January 2011
FOI NOTES: Video From Mexico; Aid Transparency
Mexico: A new video documentary on FOI in Mexico has just been released, entitled ¿Qué Pasó con mi Dinero? / What happened to my Money? Spanish version, here: http://www.fundar.org.mx/indicepresupuestoabierto2010/index.html Version with English subtitles, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTZSt25if4E&feature=related United States: The new U.S. effort to put out more information about aid flows is discussed on the Aid Watchers […]
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9 December 2010
Data Lacking for Broad Aid Transparency Study
A lack of data inhibited an effort to compare what information is publicly available on development aid from international institutions and donor nations, according to a new study by Publish What You Fund. Without enough primary, comparable data, putting together the report on 30 institutions was “challenging” according to the first of three findings in […]
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3 December 2010
Evidence of Transparency’s Benefits Scant, Promising
Existing evidence on the impact of “transparency and accountability initiatives” (TAIs), including freedom of information, is “weak,” according to a major new review of the research. This finding on the empirical front “does not mean that the impacts of TAIs are not significant, nor that they do not hold strong potential for change. It is […]
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23 September 2010
Article 19 Says Transparency Slighted in MDG Conclusions
The international summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) failed to adequately recognize the value of greater transparency, according to civil society observers. “Global civil society told world leaders that for the MDGs to succeed, two things were essential: assistance and accountability at all levels,” said Agnes Callamard, executive director of the London-based freedom of […]
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3 September 2010
Lebanese CSOs React to Disclosure of Strategy
It’s still early days for the World Bank’s new policy of disclosing certain documents in advance of Executive Board meetings, so lessons about it are just trickling in. The policy gives interested parties a last chance to comment on upcoming decisions, but the window of opportunity is small, as some Lebanese civil society organizations learned […]
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27 August 2010
Development Aid Mapped With Geo-Referenced Data
Researchers recently unveiled some of the first efforts to map development projects, a technique aimed at improving coordination of effort. Using new “geo-referenced aid data,” the projects by AidData plotted the spatial and sectoral coordination of active projects by the World Bank and the African Development Bank in Kenya and Mozambique. Another project concerned Uganda. […]