Understanding Transparency

Provision of information on projects that development agencies are funding or implementing is important for several stakeholder groups:

• Governments to improve how they plan and manage the aid they receive
• Citizens of developing countries to improve how they understand what aid their country is receiving, so they can hold their governments to account
• Citizens of donor countries to understand better how their taxes are being used to fight poverty in the developing world
• Donors and development agencies to co-ordinate their efforts better
• Parliaments and non-governmental organisations in developing countries to track aid flows and ensure that aid is spent wisely

With so many stakeholders needing this information, an important aspect of the information that organisations are publishing is that it should be publicly available and published in a way that is easy to understand.

Transparency of development assistance means that everyone can see how much assistance is being provided: they can see what it’s being spent on, and what it aims to achieve. This helps to ensure that it is used in the most effective ways, ensuring that assistance goes as far as possible in fighting poverty.

IATI has built on the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, started in Rome and Paris, with its launch at the Accra forum in 2008. The Accra Agenda for Action built on the work of Paris 3 years earlier, by emphasising the importance of country ownership and accountability in improving aid delivery and management. The Accra Agenda says that greater transparency and accountability for aid is a firm step towards providing better aid.

Find out more about the International Aid Transparency Initiative.