The growing demand for aid data – sharing experience from Nigeria
In the second of our 2020 Index launch blogs, Henry Asor Nkang of the Nigerian Government writes about his experience of aid data, how it is being used and its role in building trust.
The challenge of DFI transparency in the time of COVID
Right now, enormous sums are being committed by western nations to shore up the health care systems and economies of many low and middle-income countries. It is absolutely necessary and the right thing to do. In this guest blog, Rob Mosbacher considers the investments of development finance institutions, the tension between speed and effectiveness, and the role of transparency.
It’s Time to Stop Guessing How Much Donors Spend on Gender Equality
In this guest blog, Nora O’Connell and Tessie San Martin discuss the difficulties of tracking foreign aid spent on promoting gender equality, due to the lack of a consistent and accurate way for donors to “tag” funds dedicated to gender. They explain why Save the Children US and Plan International USA are supporting work by Publish What You Fund and Friends of Publish What You Fund to tackle the gender aid data gap.
Notes from the Field: Bangladesh
Gary Forster and Henry Lewis are just back from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. They have been finishing the research stage of our humanitarian transparency project –trying to understand the data needs and challenges of humanitarian actors on the ground, and how they might be addressed. In a new blog with our partners Ruba Ishak and Max Seilern from Ground Truth Solutions, they reflect on their experience in Bangladesh and the insights shared by interviewees who are dealing with one of the biggest refugee crises in the world.
Notes from the Field: Iraq
Information sharing during protracted humanitarian emergencies can often be complex and face a number of barriers, particularly for local and national responders. Therefore, since January 2019 we have been working with Ground Truth Solutions to better understand the data needs and challenges of these types of humanitarian actors. Building on desk based research, key stakeholder interviews and an online survey, the project has reached the on-the-ground research phase. Whilst it is too early to share the final findings of the work, in this blog we share some reflections from the first of our two country deep dives; our trip in August 2019 to Erbil, Iraq.
Foreign Aid Allocation Without Aid Transparency
Governments should allocate ODA budgets through the channels that will most effectively alleviate poverty and contribute to the SDGs. How do we know that development finance institutions (DFIs) are an appropriate vehicle for ODA spend? In the latest blog in our series on DFI transparency, Gary Forster teams up with CAFOD’s Dario Kenner to explore how governments and shareholders can be confident that DFI investments are delivering impact and value for money. Taking the example of the UK’s CDC Group, they ask If CDC’s portfolio is making a game-changing contribution to the SDGs.