Strengthening Transparency of International Aid (UK0108)

Our Commitment

Strengthening of transparency and accountability of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Our Analysis

Development of the aid transparency commitment was informed through close collaboration between government and civil society including four working group meetings. The working group considered previous lessons learned from the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) UK Co-Creation Brief 2023 as well as reflecting upon the development and delivery of the Fifth National Action Plan aid transparency commitment. Detailed analysis of each relevant milestone under the Fifth National Action Plan was undertaken to identify opportunities for development. Positive progress was noted on engagement with independent reviews and coordination with other International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) donor publishers whilst further opportunities were identified regarding data quality and technical feedback. The government-civil society working group also considered relevant submissions from the open call for ideas from both government and civil society, identifying challenges to be addressed and alignment in potential solutions. Finally, the government-civil society working group considered relevant findings and recommendations from independent assessments of aid transparency including the 2020 review of ten UK government ODA-spending departments as well as the 2022 global Aid Transparency Index and the 2023 Development Finance Institution (DFI) Transparency Index. Collectively, these materials provided the basis for discussion within the government-civil society working group and overall co-creation of the commitment.

The Problem

Aid transparency ensures accountability to taxpayers whilst empowering those in receipt of aid and strengthening coordination across development actors, ultimately enabling more effective aid delivery. The UK has long set a high standard for transparency of ODA and its commitment to transparency is reflected in UK policy including through the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy and the International Development Strategy (IDS). Notable issues in transparency and accountability across the international development sector include: ● Changes in government department structures: Following the establishment of the FCDO, legacy IT systems required integration. This resulted in a temporary pause in FCDO publication to IATI. The split in February 2023 of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will similarly require development of aid transparency processes across its successor departments. ● Assessments and Accountability: Whilst the IDS is a whole of government approach to international development, the FCDO is the only UK government department that will be assessed in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index. The IDS also sets out the UK government’s approach to working more with the private sector and investors to mobilise new, innovative investments. British International Investment (BII) came 12th from 21 non-sovereign DFIs assessed in the 2023 DFI Transparency Index. ● Data Use: As well as regular publishing of high-quality aid data by development actors, users (and potential users) of aid data need to be sufficiently aware of, and have the necessary capacity to use, published information effectively. ● IATI Transition: IATI recently established a new Secretariat. Whilst continuity of IATI services was maintained throughout this process, IATI strategic developments have progressed more slowly as a result of the transition.

Our Solutions

The proposed solutions reaffirm the UK government’s commitment to aid transparency across ODA-spending departments and build upon the success and progress against the Fifth National Action Plan’s aid transparency commitment. The solutions set out FCDO’s ambition for aid transparency as a department, with a focus on strengthening the quality and timeliness of aid transparency data to better support all stakeholders. The solutions also ensure that FCDO continues to have meaningful, inclusive, and deliberative engagement with civil society on aid transparency, responding to feedback from data users as well as working towards best publishing practices and improving data use globally. Beyond FCDO, the solutions focus on continued progress for other ODA-spending departments through maintained standards, regular cross-government engagement and an independent assessment. Furthermore, they set out the UK government’s commitment to encouraging aid transparency developments across wider stakeholders including other donors internationally and the private sector. Finally, the solutions champion data use internationally – building on FCDO’s commitment in its response to the 2022 Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) review of UK aid transparency. This commitment is relevant to the OGP values of transparency and public accountability as it ensures accessible data on UK ODA, helping demonstrate to the public how UK aid is spent and to whom taxpayers’ money is given. Transparent aid data, published to the IATI Standard, also supports public accountability by tracking delivery across development actors and monitoring progress towards aid policy priorities. Additionally, the commitment will support civic participation by providing opportunities for both scrutiny of ODA spend and feedback on the UK’s approach to aid transparency.

Our Deliverables (Deliverable | Expected outputs | Expected completion date | Stakeholders)

Deliverable One: FCDO aid data quality | Continued improvements of FCDO aid data quality | By end of 2025 | FCDO

Deliverable Two: FCDO aid data timeliness | Continued improvements of FCDO aid data timeliness | By end of 2025 | FCDO

Deliverable Three: Aid transparency across UK ODA- spending government departments | Continued aid transparency improvements across UK ODA-spending government departments | By end of 2025 | UK Government

Deliverable Four: Stakeholder engagement | Strengthened engagement with IATI data users | By end of 2025 | FCDO, Civil society

Deliverable Five: UK leadership on aid transparency | Continued championing of aid transparency improvements globally | By end of 2025 | FCDO, IATI, Donor publishers

Our Milestones (Milestone | Expected outputs | Expected completion date | Stakeholders)

Linked to Deliverable One, FCDO will achieve ‘Very good’ in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index. | - FCDO score of at least 80% in 2024 Aid Transparency Index | August 2024 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable One, FCDO to respond to 2024 Aid Transparency Index including consideration of which recommendations it can address and deliver. | - Statement from FCDO on GOV.UK responding to results of 2024 Aid Transparency Index | Within 6 weeks of publication of 2024 Aid Transparency Index | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable One, FCDO to improve quality of programme and project descriptions. | - FCDO to improve its score for ‘Project attributes – Description’ in 2024 Aid Transparency Index - FCDO to seek feedback from civil society on its project descriptions and relevant internal guidance | August 2024 By December 2024 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable Two, FCDO to be consistently (for at least 10 out of 12 months each year), publishing data one month in arrears. | - Timely data available through IATI and DevTracker | By end of 2025 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable Two, FCDO publishes its Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) in a timely manner. | - ARA 2023-2024 published on GOV.UK by end of July 2024 - ARA 2024-2025 published on GOV.UK by end of July 2025 | July 2025 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable Two, FCDO publishes its official Statistics on International Development (SID) report in a timely manner. | - Final SID 2023 to be published by the end of Autumn 2024 - Final SID 2024 to be published in Autumn 2025 | Autumn 2025 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable Two, FCDO updates its country development summaries in a timely manner. | - Country summaries updated on GOV.UK by March 2025 | By March 2025 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable Three, government departments assessed in the 2025 UK Aid Transparency Review to respond to the Review including consideration of which recommendations it can address and deliver. | - Written response shared with civil society on findings from 2025 UK Aid Transparency Review | By end of 2025 | ODA-spending departments

Linked to Deliverable Three, the HMG Transparency Community of Practice to meet annually to review strategic priorities on transparency. | - Two in-person events for Transparency Community of Practice | By end of 2025 | ODA-spending departments

Linked to Deliverable Four, FCDO to engage regularly with civil society to explore user feedback and technical issues as well as review progress against recommendations from the 2022 ICAI review of UK aid transparency. | - Quarterly meetings with civil society -Joint FCDO- Bond User research workshop to identify potential DevTracker developments - Joint FCDO- Bond workshop on data use focused on use cases and experiences from local NGOs and partner country governments | By end of 2025 | FCDO, ODA- spending departments, Civil society

Linked to Deliverable Four, FCDO to provide in-country training on IATI data use. | - Training provided to at least 2 country posts including meetings with local CSOs to discuss IATI data use | By end of 2025 | FCDO, Civil society

Linked to Deliverable Five, FCDO to support the launch of a BII Transparency Roadmap – setting out actions BII will take to increase the amount of information it makes public with the ambition of being a leader on transparency amongst bilateral DFIs. | - FCDO to regularly engage with BII on its approach to transparency with the intention of increasing its transparency as measured by external indices over time | By end of 2025 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable Five, FCDO to participate as IATI member in review of IATI Strategic Plan. | - Contributions through relevant forums on IATI Strategic Plan | By end of 2025 | FCDO

Linked to Deliverable Five, FCDO to engage with other IATI donor publishers to share good practices on data quality and data use. | - At least 4 meetings with relevant IATI donors - Active involvement in relevant IATI working groups | By end of 2025 | FCDO

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2: Aid Transparency [FCDO; Bond Transparency Working Group [22]]

For a complete description of the commitment, see Commitment 2 in the action plan here.

Context and objectives:

The UK has historically set a high standard for Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) transparency through policies like the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development, and Foreign Policy and the International Development Strategy (IDS). However, changes in government department structures, such as the establishment of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the split of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), necessitated new aid transparency processes. Assessments and accountability mechanisms, particularly the Aid Transparency Index and the IDS, primarily focus on the FCDO, leaving other departments underrepresented. Furthermore, challenges in data use and the transition within the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) Secretariat have highlighted the need to enhance transparency and accountability in aid delivery. ^[23]

This commitment aims to continue improvements in aid data published by government departments, engage civil society and other stakeholders, and improve the UK’s performance in external measures such as the Aid Transparency Index. The commitment encompasses data from the British International Investment (BII), the UK’s private development financial institution, for the first time. The FCDO will support the BII roadmap to improve the amount of information made public. [24] Other milestones focus on maintaining the monthly publication timeline of FCDO aid data before the changes in government department structures through platforms like IATI and DevTracker. Key strategic documents, such as Country Development Partnership Summaries, will be updated or published in a timely manner. ^[25] The commitment also involves facilitating civil society scrutiny of ODA expenditure and soliciting their feedback on the UK’s approaches for aid transparency.

The commitment was developed collaboratively between the government and civil society. Drawing on lessons from the IRM UK Co-Creation Brief and the fifth action plan, the working group identified areas for improvement. ^[26] Positive strides were made in coordinating with other IATI donors, though challenges in data quality and technical feedback were acknowledged as goals to address in the commitment. Input from an open call for ideas helped identify challenges and potential solutions. Independent assessments, including the 2020 review of UK government ODA-spending departments and the 2022 global Aid Transparency Index, also informed discussions on the commitment.

Potential for results: Modest

The commitment could improve the quality, timeliness and use of aid data. For the FCDO to become a top performer in the 2024 Aid Transparency Index (moving from the ‘good’ to the ‘very good’ category) it will require discernible changes at the organisational, country and programme levels. ^[27] At the organisational level, enhancements envisaged include heightened transparency on strategic priorities, exemplified by the publication of an international development strategy, along with forward-looking financial allocations for the 2024/2025 fiscal year (both of which were unavailable during the last assessment). ^[28] Efforts at the country level are aimed at the dissemination of country development partnership summaries that set the goals for partnerships for priority countries. ^[29] These summaries delineate key spending areas, strategic priorities, programmatic interventions and financial allocation plans for the countries.

Additionally, the commitment could augment data quality across programme and project levels. Whereas previously, project descriptions were automatically generated based on other data that was filled in, they are now manually populated to include quality information for data users on what the UK aims to achieve with the projects. Other notable changes include the enhanced disclosure of condition documents. This makes it easier for data users to find conditions on programmes and increases disclosures of condition documents, and disclosure of location, which is the activity scope of a programme, making it clear where programmes are focused at the national or regional level. This will make it easier for data users to identify the impacts of the programme. Additionally, they support the UK’s aspiration to achieve a ‘very good’ rating and enhance data quality, providing valuable insights into donor priorities, expenditure patterns, partnerships and project focal points. [30] Improving data quality will ultimately empower users to hold stakeholders accountable and drive better development outcomes.

The commitment extends the UK’s domestic publishing practices and engages globally to address broader data access and usage issues. Key milestones focus on tackling technical barriers to data access and providing user training to enhance stakeholders’ capacity, including current and potential data users. This approach involves working closely with government officials in various countries to familiarise them with the utility of IATI data, facilitating meetings with civil society and bridging connections between government bodies and local CSOs to promote independent or collaborative use of IATI data at a national level. Government officials will receive comprehensive training on understanding IATI data, using relevant tools for data extraction, leveraging this information to inform their roles in programme implementation or policy formulation, and checking what other donors are doing in the country to assist coordination. The pilot of this training is planned for Colombia. ^[31] By equipping staff with the necessary government officials and knowledge of IATI data and its potential benefits, the UK will demonstrate leadership in promoting data transparency and coordinating development initiatives globally.

Despite the potential for improving the quality and use of aid data, this commitment is considered modest due to the focus on reviews and assessments rather than substantive implementation. For instance, while the FCDO plans to engage other IATI donor publishers to share good practices (Deliverable Five) and participate in the review of the IATI Strategic Plan, these actions emphasise evaluation over actionable change. Similarly, the milestones include providing in-country training on IATI data use (Deliverable Four) and engaging with civil society to explore feedback and technical issues. However, these activities, such as meeting annually to review strategic priorities (Deliverable Three) and responding to the UK Aid Transparency Review without concrete implementation commitments, emphasise planning and assessment over direct impact. Consequently, while these steps are crucial for laying the groundwork, the lack of firm commitments to execute the recommendations limits the overall potential for substantial results.

Opportunities, challenges and recommendations during implementation

While aid transparency is not novel for the UK, this commitment serves as a safeguard against other competing priorities, directing focus on to the FCDO and other departments. Challenges around data quality and monitoring and evaluation could also complicate the implementation.

To ensure strong implementation, the IRM offers the following recommendations to the FCDO: