IATI at FFD3

Good news from Addis Ababa, where the outcome document of the Third Financing for Development Conference has been agreed, and IATI is positively referenced in paragraph 127 as follows:

“We recognize that greater transparency is essential and can be provided by publishing timely, comprehensive and forward-looking information on development activities in a common, open, electronic format, as appropriate. Access to reliable data and statistics helps Governments to make informed decisions, and enables all stakeholders to track progress and understand trade-offs, and creates mutual accountability. We will learn from existing transparency initiatives and open data standards, and take note of the International Aid Transparency Initiative.”

While this falls short of the clear commitment to publish to IATI that we would like to have seen, it is nevertheless good to see the initiative name-checked in the FFD3 outcome document, and we would like to thank all of the members who pressed hard for IATI’s inclusion during the FFD negotiations.

IATI’s potential role in monitoring FFD commitments was also the subject of a blog on the FFD3 site today in the name of Steering Committee Chair, Robin Uyterlinde.

Meanwhile, we are pleased to report that the side-event that IATI co-hosted with GIFT, Open Contracting, Publish What You Fund and Transparency International  in Addis on Tuesday was a huge success – here are quotes from some of our key speakers:

Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator @HelenClarkUNDP

“We are proud to come top of the Publish What You Fund Index. Transparency is important for managing and allocating diverse funding flows. The IATI standard helps countries a great deal, to know what money is coming in and when.”

Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Vice-President, Nigeria @ProfOsinbajo

“The aims of IATI are notable and beneficial. It enables effective financial management and effective tracking. Membership of open data initiatives produces a solution to opacity.”

“We can’t pretend data is open if most people don’t know about it. We need to make data relevant.”

Dana Hyde, CEO, Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) @DanaJHyde

“At every step of the way we look at what our data is telling us. It drives and motivates our staff.”

“The data revolution is a great opportunity- we need to hold this vision and commit to it.”

“We need to create incentives for actors to put out their data and create opportunities for users.”

Hon’ble Mr M A Mannan MP, State Minister of Finance and Planning, Bangladesh

“You can’t hide data and have a budget tracking system.”

“Our data is getting better every year in Bangladesh. We get a push from our CSOs – they want the data so they can go out and track the money and resources on the ground. So we are trying our best to improve data.”

Alexander de Croo, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services, Belgium @alexanderdecroo

“Let people do what they want with the data. Let them create added value. If you want it, you can have it today or tomorrow. The problem is not about [availability of ] data but how we use it.”

José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International @anticorruption

“We need to lift the veil of opacity off of budgets. Follow the money. Data transparency does not equal accountability.”

Annika Sundén, Chief Economist, Sida @AnnikaSunden

“IATI can be the standard to make all financial flows transparent. We need to get them all into the standard to get the whole picture.”