Donor Experiences of Development Aid Statistics – United Kingdom Alex Stannard Statistician 27 May 2008 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA
Increasing demand for aid statistics Make Poverty History G8 2005 promises 0.7% commitment
UK Official Development Assistance as % of GNI
Aid statistic customers Parliament Internal DFID Management International bodies Other donors General public NGOs Lobby groups
Four reporting obligations UK International Development Reporting and Transparency Act Created statutory requirement for DFID to report aid statistics, DFID ownership of UK ODA reporting International Reporting Reports provided DAC, both DAC questionnaire and CRS database Freedom of Information Questions from general public, if data or analysis exists DFID is obliged to answer Parliamentary Questions (PQs) Questions from Parliament, DFID obliged to answer
UK International Development Reporting and Transparency Act Created statutory requirement for DFID to report aid statistics Annual Report Aid effectiveness Reports on the impact of UK aid in at least 20 countries Millennium Development Goals Future spending plans Aid expenditure statistics Progress towards 0.7%
International reporting DAC Reporting DAC Advanced Questionnaire High level aggregates March deadline Main DAC Questionnaire Detailed country and sector data July deadline CRS Reporting Very detailed project information Quarterly reports
CRS++ - A new way to report to the DAC Replaces CRS reports Allows DAC reports to be built from CRS reports Very detailed project information collected Reduced costs and guarantees consistency
Finance and Corporate Performance Division main contact with the DAC on aid statistics
National reporting Departmental Report Resource accounts DAC reporting External, published on DFID website Meets requirements of Reporting and Transparency Act and reports on impact of aid Resource accounts DFID’s official accounts DAC reporting External, published on DAC website Meets UK’s DAC obligations Quarterly Management Report Internal Measures progress against DFID priorities
Statistics on International Development Main UK aid publication Gives DFID aid expenditure and UK ODA Data by country, sector and funding type Main source for UK only aid statistics Based on same data that is reported to the DAC Classed as a National Statistic - strict guidelines for production
New demands for information – Paris Declaration Publishing Project Information All project design documentation published on DFID website Increase: Transparency Accountability Knowledge CRS++ Detailed project information provided to the DAC
DFID’s data collection system Single database Collects all project information (design, implementation and evaluation) Used to produce Statistics on International Development and reporting to the DAC Project officers enter data Coding guidance essential
Bilateral and multilateral spending Any expenditure through a multilateral is flagged It is classified as: Multilateral spending if Core contributions Funding of secondees to multilaterals Capacity building of multilaterals Bilateral spending if Non core contributions - Country, sector, theme or individual project is identified Core contributions to NGOs
How to identify sector spending Sector codes DAC has one sector code per project DFID uses multiple sector coding DFID sector codes based on DACs Cross cutting markers HIV and AIDS Gender
Other reporting issues All UK aid untied General Budget Support Reported to DAC as lump sum UK notionally allocates GBS to sectors Spending targets International and UK Progress needs to be measured Appropriate methodologies In year progress measured
Other reporting issues Monitoring and evaluation How and where multilaterals use UK contributions Other UK government departments contribute towards UK ODA Conflict prevention Debt relief Environment Ministry Ministry of Health Foreign Office projects
DFID as percent of total UK ODA
Strengths and Weaknesses of UK system Open and transparent Too many reports More detail than DAC Differences with DAC Dedicated statistical resources Different measures Easily accessible statistics Other Government Departments Burden on project officers