The 2016 analysis from Publish What You Fund indicates that 25% of global aid now meets transparency standards. Despite the progress over the last five years, the analysis of 46 aid donors found that most have failed to uphold this commitment. Once again, BCSDN has taken part in the ATI evaluations as an independent reviewer by assessing DG Enlargement performance. Along its general performance, transparency of EU funding in Serbia, as the biggest IPA recipient, has been the focus of the assessment.
DG NEAR is one of the biggest improvers since 2013, increasing its score by 26%. It is the top ranking EC Directorate-General in the 2016 Index and remains in the ‘good’ category, increasing its score on the 2014 Index by 12.3%. DG NEAR should still improve its coverage and publish all available project-related documents to the IATI Registry, and very importantly, should require implementation of the IATI Standard by all co-financing activities in the areas covered by its mandate. There is also the need to develop a strategy for internal and external use of its data with all relevant stakeholders, in particular among the EU’s pre-accession and neighborhood countries.
On the other hand, the analysis classed twelve organisations as performing poorly, and further sixteen are not yet publishing good enough data to meet their transparency commitment, agreed in 2011 to make development more effective. The list includes some of the world’s largest aid donors, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Foreign Ministries of Italy, France and Japan are of particular concern. All have failed to meet their commitments as members of the G7 to provide open, timely and transparent data on development assistance – indicating a lack of regard for transparency or respect for their partners.
Read the full 2016 Aid Transparency Index here, or the overview for DG NEAR here.
