A recent announcement by the OECD-DAC on new rules for how debt relief will be counted as ODA has raised questions around aid allocation and transparency. With a looming debt crisis, the role of debt relief is looking increasingly important. In this blog we examine what we currently know about data on debt relief, how it is reported, and the data gaps. We consider the implications of the new rules for the transparency of ODA.
Karen Mathiasen is a strategic advisor to Publish What You Fund’s DFI Transparency Initiative. Here she draws on her decades of experience at the World Bank and the US Treasury to illustrate the challenges and opportunities for the IFC in light of the recent publication of their CAO review.
As part of our research into humanitarian data transparency, we have produced two country-specific research briefs on Iraq and Bangladesh. The briefs explore the information needs of humanitarian actors on the ground in Bangladesh and Iraq, and the challenges they face in accessing and using this information.
Our monthly review of news, featuring blogs on gender data and the promise of the Index – plus news on debt transparency, following the COVID money and ODA rules.
In our final 2020 Aid Transparency Index launch blog, Dr Kate Weaver of the University of Texas reflects on the influence of the Index and the limitations of the methodology. She calls for greater support to enable the Index to take the next steps in delivering the real promise of aid transparency – better, more accountable aid for all.
As part of our gender financing project, we are launching a series of data diaries. In the first of the series, we ask Megan O’Donnell, Assistant Director of the Center for Global Development’s gender program why gender-related data matters to her work, how she engages with the data, and what improvements she would like to see to make this data more transparent.
