Make Aid Transparent campaign presents petition with 64,000 signatures at high level forum

Approximately 64,000 people from 218 nations and territories have signed a petition that was presented at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea to encourage donors to publish more and better information about the aid they give to developing countries.

SAHA is one of more than 100 civil society organisations that supported this initiative. Amy Barry, the Campaign Director at Publish What You Fund said the petition represents the "widespread and irrefutable demand from citizens from all over the world for more transparent aid."

Ms. Barry also suggested that the conference had a positive impact in promoting the publication of aid donations amongst many major donors, whereas other donors have agreed to abide by the international standards that require that their aid be made more comparable and accessible.

Make Aid Transparent is a campaign organised by Publish What You Fund, an NGO dedicated to improving aid transparency among the world's largest donors. The organisation strives for regular and prompt disclosure of aid packages in order to promote accountability and make the delivery of aid more efficient.

Publish What You Fund focuses on how aid transparency is important for donors, recipients, and civil society organisations. Aid transparency impacts donors because donations cannot achieve their full potential without being aware of what other aid is being given to what areas. Transparency prevents the doubling up of funding in some areas and underfunding in others.

Recipients need to understand how much aid they can expect in order to plan for their long-term development projects. Unless they can accurately project the amount of resources coming from donors to complement their own spending plans, this task becomes extraordinarily difficult. Moreover, without the ability to disclose the flow of aid resources, it becomes more difficult for the public to hold a government accountable.

Civil society organisations also have an interest in the disclosure of aid resources. If these groups understand how aid is being spent, they will be better positioned to raise awareness about what it has achieved. This will also assist them in advocating for more effective strategies in the distribution of resources that are infused into a government's funds that could expedite development in a recipient state.

For more information on Make Aid Transparent, click here.