Aid is a scarce and precious resource. When spent well, it saves lives, puts kids into school, and promotes long-term development. But at the moment no one knows exactly where aid money is going, or what impact it is having. This undermines the potential of aid and its effectiveness.

That's why we are joining with over 100 other organisations from all over the world to launch an unprecedented campaign calling on governments to publish more and better information about the aid they give.

Why Make Aid More Transparent?

If more information was made available about government aid flows then:

  • Donors could make sure they were not duplicating each other’s work;
  • Recipients would know what they were getting and plan their spending accordingly;
  • Citizens in donor and recipient countries could hold their governments to account;
  • We could reduce waste, corruption and gaps in funding.

Most importantly we could all be sure that aid was being spent as effectively as possible, delivering lasting positive change in the world's poorest countries.

Why now?

This year is critical. Governments have promised to make their aid more transparent. The first handover of the petition took place at a meeting of aid officials at the headquarters of the OECD in Paris on 7 July, with 5,012 signatures from 115 countries. Since then, 50,000 people across the world have joined the call, which will culminate at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Korea.

The effectiveness of international aid is being scrutinised at a time when governments are under immense pressure. Therefore, a public push for greater transparency now will make a huge difference. . If our governments feel public pressure they will redouble efforts to keep their promises. This could deliver a huge boost to poverty reduction efforts, that doesn't involve more money.

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