[Joint post by Rachel Rank at Publish What You Fund & Judith Davey at ActionAid – originally posted here]

We are delighted to be co-chairing the Bond Transparency Group.  We’ll bring different perspectives to bear and will have different lenses on transparency – the CSO and organisational view and the research and policy view.  We probably won’t always agree on things, but that should both enliven and enrich the debate.  We’re also pleased to be working with Sarah Johns from Bond on setting up and running this new working group.

The Transparency Group will focus on strategic issues. As such we’re both really ambitious about the role the group can play and what we can achieve.

The ‘first cut’ draft objectives for the group are:

• Provide space for members to learn and think critically together about transparency in the context of development and accountability, at an organisational and sector level, challenging assumptions and engaging with current academic, policy and practice discussions.
• Build a shared understanding, at a sector policy level, of the links between transparency, accountability and power in relation to poverty reduction.
• Enable networking and outreach to (but not limited to):
• Other Bond working groups
• National initiatives such as the Aid Transparency panel
• International initiatives such as IATI and Open Government Partnership
• Provide opportunities to showcase innovative practice linking transparency to citizen engagement with governance and accountability.

We have a number of other aspirations for the group, including increasing the membership and having an engaged membership.  We want the group to be active throughout the year with participation between the quarterly meetings.

Tell us what you think – what issues do you want the group to cover? Who would you like to invite to present? Would you like to present something?

Find out more about the group (including how to join) at:  http://my.bond.org.uk/group/transparency

Judith Davey, Director People Performance & Accountability at ActionAid
Judith.davey@actionaid.org  @judithedavey

Rachel Rank, Deputy Director at Publish What You Fund
rachel.rank@publishwhatyoufund.org  @rachelerank