Need to know WHAT PEOPLE IN POOR COUNTRIES ARE DEMANDING TO KNOW ABOUT US FOREIGN AID Gregory Adams Director of Aid Effectiveness Oxfam America April 28, 2014

THE DEVELOPMENT COMPACT

Albert Kan-Dapaah is a former Ghanaian minister and parliamentarian, co-founder of a nonprofit organization working to improve public financial management in Africa. He and his civil society colleagues are holding their government accountable for effectively using poverty-fighting aid, but they can’t do that without timely and comprehensive data on where US aid dollars are going.

Betty Missokia runs a Tanzanian nonprofit that has 40,000 members actively engaged in advocating for better schools and education for their children. She knows from experience that getting useful information into the hands of citizens is key to making government more responsive.  As Betty says, “information is not power unless you can use it.” Betty and her staff help citizens and parliamentarians analyze the national budget, to make sure it reflects the priorities of parents, teachers and children.  By transforming budget data into useful information, Betty enables Tanzanians inside and outside government to demand accountability for the public investments that will drive their country’s development. In a country like Tanzania, where US aid funds support education reform, local leaders like Betty need aid data that will help her inform citizens about how aid money is spent, so that they can hold their government accountable for results.

Neil Cole is executive secretary of an organization of senior African finance and planning officials. From their work promoting efficient public financial management across the continent, Neil and his network of peers know the critical role that high-quality aid data plays in enabling partner governments to effectively plan and manage funds. Officials like Neil are focused on fostering economic growth and moving their countries beyond reliance on aid.  But in order for governments to deliver sustainable development for their citizens and effective returns on the investment of aid funds, they have to have aid data that is accessible, timely, and comparable across donors.

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