Aid Information for the People A Summary Report of Civil Society Consultations on the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Antonio Tujan, Jr. Chair, Reality of Aid

IATI CSO consultations workshops intended to gather CSO perspectives, insights and recommendations on: –availability and accessibility of aid information for CSOs –barriers/issues and recommendations on availability and accessibility of aid information for CSOs; and –publishing/disseminating aid information by CSOs

Five regional CSO consultation workshops held in 2009 ( East & Southeast Asia, Eastern Africa, Latin America, Southern Africa and Western Africa) Bringing together 193 participants representing 156 regional and national CSOs covering 54 countries and 13 international NGOs

Key Findings from the IATI CSO Consultations

Aid Information Needs Conditionality – CSOs demand full disclosure of conditions attached to aid Aid commitments and actual disbursements – no information if aid committed has been disbursed on time or was actually released Project impact – full disclosures on project impact Complete project documentation – international agreements, negotiations, policy and bidding process, site selection, project consultants, social acceptance process, among others

Barriers to Accessing Aid Information Restrictive policies and laws on information dissemination Lack of mechanisms for transparency and information dissemination Low capacity for CSOs to access, manage and use aid information

CSO Recommendations to improve Access to Aid Information Pro-active effort to make publicly available and accessible aid information Enabling environment for effective and efficient access to aid information CSO capacity development

Aid Information Publication/Dissemination by CSOs most common information published/disseminated by CSOs: –social audit results and analyses of multilateral cooperation –assessment on the impact of aid and aid policies –position papers on aid –researches, conference reports and write-ups Published in policy briefs, newsletters, organizational magazines, websites and blogs. Constrained by lack of sufficient technical resources and funds

Conclusions IATI consultations welcomed by CSOs as venues for airing their issues on aid information; feedback on IATI results greatly expected; CSOs wonder how IATI will resolve major technical, political and resource constraints to making aid information, available and accessible to a broad range of users; doubts expressed if IATI goals are achievable; Development/use of alternative and popular but equally efficient modes of aid data dissemination;

Development effectiveness should be the operating framework in aid transparency Democracy, Participatory governance and Accountable governance as principles of development effectiveness Aid transparency as a function Role of direct participation and consultation as standard practice in culture of transparency and accountability

CSO transparency must be viewed from different framework CSOs as different development actors in their own right premised on social solidarity CSO transparency not from the function of public governance but from accountability of voluntary organizations representing constituencies and the public at large But ODA provided to CSOs must be published but in situations as Ethiopia?

CSO transparency must be viewed from different framework CSOs should be even more assiduous in transparency and accountability especially to their constituency for their legitimacy and development effectiveness Premises of CSO transparency based on principles and requirements of development effectiveness

Open Forum on CSO Development Effectiveness Open Forum as a mechanism to determine and agree upon a global set of principles of CSO development effectiveness and a global framework of mechanisms for CSO accountability and transparency Meantime, IATI can look at CSO accountability charter process (

Thank you.