Editors PickNational News

UNDP named most transparent

Kubalasa
Kubalasa: Donors must walk the talk on transparency

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been named this year most transparent donor in sharing data and information about its activities.
The 2014 Aid Transparency Index (ATI) released in Washington DC, USA on Wednesday by Publish What You Fund, places UNDP at the top of 68 other aid-giving organisations from countries including America and Germany; and influential organisations such as the World Bank and the Gates Foundation.
UNDP has knocked down US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) off last year’s top spot while China finished last for the second year in a row.
The World Bank, through its International Development Association (IDA) ranks seventh in the index.
The index also places one other main development partner for Malawi, the African Development Bank (AfDB) on position number eight, with Global Fund and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) grabbing positions 10 and 14 respectively.
Germany International Cooperation (GIZ) ranks position 17 beating IrishAid and United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) who are on position 27 and 31 respectively.
Categorised as poor, are the USA on position 32, Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) (33) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (37), World Bank’s IFC (39) and Norway (42).
Commenting on the findings of the report, Malawi Economics Justice Network (Mejn) Executive Director Dalitso Kubalasa—who was also a panellist during the index launch— said the index is an important measure of donors’ commitments to help make their aid transparent.
Said Kubalasa: “Donor transparency is something we have asked for and we will continue asking for again and again.”
“If donors want to see value for their money, they must walk the talk of transparency and accountability. There should be no double standards in a true spirit of partnership.”
Helen Clark, UNDP administrator described transparency as her organisation’s core mission.
“We are gratified to be recognised for our efforts to operate in an open, transparent manner. UNDP is committed to working in the open to spark innovation, to ensure the best possible use of funds entrusted to it and to accelerate the development of a sustainable future for all,” he said.
On her part, Rachel Rank of Publish What You Fund, explained that a lot of progress was made at the political level in the early days of aid transparency, including a promise to publish aid information to an internationally-agreed common standard by the end of 2015. n

Related Articles

Back to top button