Publish What You Fund (PWYF) Campaign

In the words of a representative from one of the founding organisations of PWYF, "[t]ransparency means more than just disclosure – it also entails proactive communication with people in recipient countries." This is meant to ensure that accessible aid information is offered in plain and readily comprehensible language and formats. In line with this conviction, the core campaign focus is on collaboratively developing and conveying a set of principles for international aid, which may be read and commented on by anyone on a dedicated page on the PWYF website. A Working Group of aid, access to information, and integrity organisations is leading the consultation process and working to ensure that all contributions are fairly reflected in the final Principles. The first draft was disseminated in July 2008; comments will be integrated after each round of consultation, with the final version disseminated widely on December 21 2008. The goal is that, once finalised, the principles will be formally endorsed and implemented by all public and private bodies engaged in funding and delivering aid.

PWYF is also working to create the space to enable transparency to be prioritised as a policy issue. Organisers are drawing on in-person events and an interactive website to open up debate and progress for improvements in aid transparency to take place, and to apply pressure on providers and users of aid information to act. To that end, a research project has been initiated to check which information is really available in practice and which information needs to be collected or generated in order to ensure that information available about aid is useful and meaningful. This research will serve as the foundation for future advocacy efforts.

Development Assistance, Democracy & Governance, Rights.

Organisers contend that lack of aid transparency leads to inefficiency in decision-making and implementation and heightened corruption risks. For example, PWYF cites a large-scale evaluation of aid to the Palestinian territories, which was undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2000. "The report concluded that most aid projects were urban. Rural areas and refugee camps, where the aid was most needed, were neglected. No one knew how much money the Palestinian Authority was receiving. Weak aid transparency undermines evaluation and learning – both at a technical and political level. It is hard to evaluate the effectiveness or even efficiency of a programme for which a significant proportion of the resources are unknown." PWYF also explains that "aid transparency needs to be about more than just data – donors must be transparent about their policies and decision-making."