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Key Text Better Information, Better Aid

Author: aidinfo
Date: 2008
Size: 23 pages (392 KB)

Summary

What are the potential benefits of aid transparency? What information is needed and how could donors make this more accessible? Survey results indicate that improved transparency of aid information would contribute to faster poverty reduction by making aid more effective and accountable. Users of aid information need more accessible, detailed, timely, and consistent information to enable them to make aid work better. Donors should therefore publish information (electronically) in more detail, using common definitions and a common format. This could both reduce costs for donors, who repeatedly provide the same information in different forms, and increase the information's value to users.

Increased transparency of aid is a specific commitment in the 2005 Paris Declaration and of the draft Accra Agenda for Action. It is also a necessary condition for progress in the Paris principles of ownership, harmonisation, alignment, managing for results and mutual accountability. Information should be accessible through a variety of means by people in developing countries as well as in donor countries, in a form that is useful to them. Barriers are not cost or technical feasibility, but attention to the issue and coordination among donors.

Detailed surveys by aidinfo have found that increased transparency of aid information would accelerate poverty reduction through:

More responsive services, more accountable government and country ownership
Improved performance of aid agencies and reduced scope for corruption
Better linking of aid to results and improved quality of investment decisions
Better macroeconomic management and reduced overhead costs
More trust and stronger partnership between donors and recipient countries
Increased public support for aid in donor countries.

Key aid information needs are: more detail; greater timeliness; traceability; broader donor coverage and standardised formats. It is both technically and politically feasible for donors to respond to these needs; and donors are willing to do so. Much of the information is already published, but the way this is organised makes it both expensive to produce and difficult to use. For example, definitions vary between donors, so information cannot be readily added up or compared. Country-level databases are set up slightly differently, making data unusable for cross-country comparisons. Further, there is a delay of up to two years before information published through the OECD Development Assistance Committee can be accessed.

Ideally, information should be provided in real time, and should include anticipated future aid flows.
It is important to be able to trace aid as it moves from one organisation to another, from funder to intended beneficiary.
Coverage should include bilateral donors, multilateral organisations, foundations and NGOs.
Detail is needed so that information can be organised according to local definitions.
Easier access is required to information in formats which can be integrated into local systems.

Quick wins towards greater transparency include: completion of project long descriptions; reporting on implementing agency; immediate publication of information reported to the CRS; and comprehensive compliance with OECD-DAC reporting requirements. External support, such as technical advice or help with systems, could be made available to donors to implement these changes.

It is important to provide comprehensive, detailed, timely and accessible information to nationally-owned aid management systems, grounded in local circumstances. This requires donors to:

Extend and implement previously agreed definitions, such as the DAC reporting directives, to enable aid information to be mapped to a broader range of systems.
Develop a common format through wide consultation with donors (including multilaterals, non-traditional aid donors, philanthropic foundations, NGOs and private charities), partner countries and civil society organisations in both the North and South.
Set up a system that translates their internal data into the agreed, extended classifications and format. This would then be a single reporting channel for each donor, available online for users to access in different ways as needed.
Plan training and technical support to help users, particularly in the South, to access, understand and make maximum use of the data available.

Access full text: available online

Source: aidinfo, 2008, 'Better Information, Better Aid', Consultation Paper: Accra, Development Initiatives, Wells, UK
Organisation: aidinfo, http://www.aidinfo.org/