International Aid Transparency Initiative Accra statement
4 September 2008
International Aid Transparency Initiative
We, representatives of developed countries responsible for promoting development and Heads of multilateral and bilateral development institutions, and representatives of philanthropic foundations, meeting in Accra on 4 September 2008:
- Welcome the commitments in the draft Accra Agenda for Action by all donors to “publicly disclose regular, detailed and timely information on volume, allocation and when, available, results of development expenditure to enable more accurate budget, accounting and audit by developing countries”, “support information systems for managing aid”; and “provide full and timely information on annual commitments and actual disbursements”
- Recognise that transparency of aid information promotes more effective partnerships, and accelerates development and poverty reduction by increasing accountability and ownership, reducing corruption, and improving service delivery;
- Welcome the additional scrutiny and increased effectiveness that transparency can bring to donor organisations and other development institutions;
- Emphasize the role that transparency plays in promoting mutual accountability;
- Respect the right of taxpayers and their representatives, and of citizens in developing countries, to information about how foreign aid is spent; and
- Affirm that information about aid should be easily accessible to support local accountability and efficient public administration.
We therefore resolve that:
- We will give strong political direction, and our agencies will invest the necessary resources, to meet in full existing nationally and internationally-agreed reporting standards and to accelerate availability of aid information.
- We will share more detailed and more up-to-date information about aid in a form that makes information more accessible to all relevant stakeholders.
- We will, to the extent possible, provide more reliable and detailed information about intended future aid.
- We will be transparent about conditions attached to aid and expected project outputs and outcomes.
- We will build on and extend existing standards and reporting systems, consulting partner governments, civil society organisations, parliamentarians and other users of aid information, in order to agree, by end 2009, common definitions and a format to facilitate sharing of aid information.
- We will urge all public and private aid donors, including bilateral and multilateral organisations, and philanthropic foundations, and those who deliver aid on our behalf, to work with us to agree and then implement these common standards and format.
- We will give priority within our organisations to implementing and adhering to these standards and format when they have been agreed.
- To the extent possible we expect that organisations that deliver aid on behalf of our respective organisations should adhere to the same standards of transparency.
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