News roundup – free training, USAID data and UK aid transparency

Welcome to the latest roundup of news from the world of aid and development transparency.

New free training: An introduction to using international aid and development data

Exciting news: we’re launching a series of free 1-hour training sessions on using international aid and development data

Need to know more about aid and development projects and their impact? Interested in who is spending what, where, how and why? Want to understand the latest trends in official development assistance (ODA)? Whether you have questions on big picture global trends in health spending, nutrition programmes in your country, your government’s support for gender equality, or the detail of who funded the new local school this free training session will show you where and how to find the answers.

Over the course of one hour we’ll introduce you to the leading global open aid dataset – the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). You will learn how to find and explore information on over a million development, humanitarian and climate projects to support your research, planning, fundraising, advocacy or campaigning.

Find out more and book your place

How transparent is UK aid in 2025?

We’re pleased to announce that over the coming eight months Publish What You Fund will review the availability, accessibility and quality of information published by eight of the largest (non-FCDO) aid-spending departments, plus the cross-government Integrated Security Fund. Our aim is to objectively assess the transparency of the departments and funds in relation to their aid spending, and provide tailored advice on improving their aid transparency. The work is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

USAID – Where to find the data

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) started publishing data to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) in 2013, following its commitment to aid transparency under the US Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. Since then, USAID regularly updated its IATI data, improving the quality and scope of the information shared. We’ve created a webpage providing sources of information about USAID’s activities and spending.

Understanding the impact of US foreign assistance cuts

Following significant proposed cuts to the FY 2019 US foreign assistance budget, Publish What You Fund undertook a research effort to analyse the impact of proposed cuts with an in-depth look at four partner countries. The findings of that assessment are relevant to President Trump’s 2025 Executive Order on the ninety-day pause on foreign assistance and the subsequent stop order.

Our top line findings:

Significant and sudden cuts, particularly in fragile countries, can risk instability and undermine the achievements already made as a result of US investments.
Proposed cuts, even if not implemented, still have a negative impact.
Proposed cuts can undermine the essential leadership role USAID often provides in the donor community.
US assistance often fills a unique role by providing assistance that no other donor can match.
Relatively small amounts of US foreign assistance can have a significant impact.

Read a summary of our findings

Other news

Here’s a quick roundup of other news and publications we’ve been reading over the last few weeks:

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released the final development finance statistics for 2023 which show that official development assistance (ODA) from member countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) rose to a new-high of US$ 223.3 billion. This represents an increase of 1.2% from 2022 in real terms. Compared to 2022, spending increased for humanitarian aid (+5.9%) and core contributions to multilateral organisations (+15.2%). More than US$ 30.52 billion of ODA was spent on in-donor refugee costs (a decrease of 1.6% from the 2022 figure). Ukraine was the largest recipient of international aid ever – for any single country in a single year. ODA provided by DAC countries represented 0.37% of their gross national income (GNI), while only five countries surpassed the United Nations target of 0.7%.

Eurodad has reacted to the ODA figures, calling for new, democratic governance of development cooperation, with equal participation from the global south and inclusive consultation with civil society. Eurodad also highlights that ODA destined to the world’s poorest accounted for just 24.2% of total aid. While this is a slight increase from 2022, it is still far below the 0.15-0.2 per cent GNI target for aid to Least Developed Countries. There has also been an increase in the share of tied aid (where donors require that their aid is used to procure goods and services from suppliers in the country providing that aid) to nearly 12 per cent.

In a new blog, the Center for Global Development (CGD) debunk the claim that only 10% of USAID money reaches its intended beneficiaries. The blog use data to evidence where USAID’s funding goes, where the 10% figure came from and why the myth spread by Elon Musk is simply wrong.

The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) has issued a statement urging the Trump Administration to:

reverse course on the abolishment (de facto or otherwise) of USAID
lift the freeze on foreign assistance programmes
fully engage Congress as a partner on its 90-day review of foreign assistance
communicate transparently to Congress and other stakeholders about its vision for the future of America’s global engagement

MFAN also called on Congress to exercise its legal authority to insist on full and transparent engagement by the new Administration moving forward on proposed changes to the US government foreign assistance architecture

Seek Development, along with adelphi, the Rockefeller Foundation, Foundation S, and Reaching the Last Mile, have produced a comprehensive analysis of the levels and trends in self-reported financing for climate and health. This Donor Tracker publication provides an overview of the work which maps international finance flows from 2018 to 2022, providing a baseline understanding to inform future priorities.

Transparency International has released the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which ranks 180 countries and territories according to the levels of public sector corruption perceived by experts and businesspeople, using a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. The global average score was 43, and two thirds of countries scored below 50. The top performer was Denmark, followed by Finland and Singapore. Countries experiencing conflict or with highly restricted freedoms and weak democratic institutions occupy the bottom of the index. South Sudan, Somalia and Venezuela are the worst performers. Full democracies have a CPI average of 73, while flawed democracies average 47 and non-democratic regimes just 33. Since 2012, 32 countries have significantly improved their scores on the index, while 47 countries made significant losses.

The Centre for Development Finance Studies has published a short paper on “The honest truth about transparency” which highlights the costs of opacity and benefits of transparency. It argues that part of the immense value of the development finance system of institutions lies in the data yielded by their unique experience of lending and investing across developing economies. Sharing this data could accelerate efforts towards sustainable development by enabling creativity, lowering the cost of capital for key stakeholders and harnessing competitive forces. It concludes that transparency has its costs, but these pale in comparison to the costs of prolonged opacity.

CGD has published a compendium on the future of ODA. CGD experts and development thought leaders offer reflections and proposals to inform policymakers considering pathways for the reform of ODA.

The Climate Works Foundation has released its Funding Trends 2024 report, focused on climate mitigation philanthropy. It traces the evolution of climate philanthropy and highlights that philanthropic giving for climate mitigation increased significantly in 2023 (an estimated 20% increase from 2022 levels). But persistent funding gaps remain, and climate mitigation philanthropy was still less than 2% of total philanthropic giving worldwide.

A new Lowy Institute publication reports on the views of governments, civil society and business in the Pacific Islands and their concerns about a lack of transparency and accountability in aid and development projects, particularly amid geopolitical rivalries. The report highlights concerns that geopolitical competition leads to the prioritisation of external agendas over those of Pacific Island countries. It provides three imperatives for better managing external engagements: greater accountability, both domestically and between donors and recipients; stronger policy and priority alignment across sectors and partners; and better collaboration and connectivity between regional, national, and local stakeholders.

Inclusive Development International has examined whether Chinese overseas investments are a “last resort” for financing high-risk projects. The report finds that greater transparency and proactive public engagement are essential for ensuring responsible investment and sustainable development outcomes

A new survey by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland has found that 89% of Americans say the US should spend at least one percent of the federal budget on foreign aid – the current amount the US spends on aid. This includes 84% of Republicans and 94% of Democrats. 58% oppose abolishing USAID and folding its functions into the State Department, including 77% of Democrats and 62% of independents. But 60% of Republicans favour the move. The survey also found that Americans greatly overestimate the amount spent on US foreign aid – the majority estimating that this was at least 20% of the budget.