1. Breaking news: Three ruling party MPs prosecuted for fraud
If you want evidence of the extraordinary transformative power of information you need look no further than the United Kingdom.
It was announced on Friday that these three men, Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and David Chaytor, will be prosecuted for fraud.
It is the culmination of a long process which began in 2005 when the Freedom of Information Act came into force.
It is a tribute to information campaigner Heather Brooke, and reporters Ben Leapman and Jon Ungoed-Thomas.
Parliament believed they could keep the details of their expenses secrets. In May 2008, the High Court disagreed, and forced Parliament to publish the details.
The results, as many of you will know, have been dramatic. The Speaker of the House of Commons has been forced to step down. Hundreds of MPs will not stand again at the next election.
It was the details that mattered. We learned about MPs who had claimed second home allowances from the House of Commons, but told the tax authorities it was their primary residence, or who had “flipped” from one home to another to increase their allowances. We learned this because of details that the House of Commons did not plan to publish. What they think is important, and what we think is important, is very often too different things.
I am making this point about the publication of MPs expenses in the UK for two reasons:
First, I want to highlight the way that freedom of information can fundamentally change the relationship between the government and the governed.
Second, I want to make clear that this is a global issue. We are here to think about access to information in Africa, and how it can help to improve public governance and accountability, andreduce corruption. But I want to be clear that these issues are just as important today in Europe and America and other industrialised countries as they are in Africa.
Three ruling party MPs prosecuted for fraud

2. Transparency of resources for poverty
Effective budget decision-making and execution;
Enhance parliamentary oversight, social contract
Enable social accountability through citizen movements and civil society (eg Twaweza)
Reduce administration, overlap and waste;
Reduce corruption, enable money to be tracked
Predictable spending, coordinated programmes
Allow governments to manage own spending
Builds support for aid
What is striking about transparency is that it is important for so many reasons.
Rakesh Rajani in the next session will talk about social accountability.

3. After the tsunami in Aceh
“In February, in Riga (close to Calang) we had a case of measles, a little girl. Immediately, all epidemiologists of Banda Aceh came in, because they were afraid of a propagation of measles among displaced people, but the little girl recovered very fast. Then, we realized that this was not a normal case of measles and we discovered that this girl has received the same vaccine three times, from three different organizations. The measles symptoms were a result of the three vaccines she received.” El Pais (April 13, 2005, p. A2).
La Stampa

4. International Aid Transparency Initiative
Agreed in 2008
18 donors, 50 percent of ODA
Others participating but not formally committed
Four components:
agreement on what will be published;
common definitions for sharing information ;
a common electronic data format;
a “code of conduct”.
On track to agree details during 2010
Focused on aid, as part of broader picture
In a few years time, it will seem extraordinary that donors could be spending $120 billion a year in developing countries and not publish the details of how it is spent.

5. International Aid Transparency Initiative
Relevant and accessible information for governments, parliamentarians, civil society, the media and citizens,
Accurate and meaningful information, not just statistics
Timely, forward looking, traceable, detailed, comprehensive
Include non-DAC donors, multilaterals, foundations and NGOs
Easy to understand, reconcile, compare, add up and read alongside other information sources
Electronically accessible, open format, legally open
Reduce duplicate reporting and bureaucracy

6. Costs and benefits Costs about $10-$30m
Benefits of (much?) more than $3 billion a year
Roughly equivalent to a 2-3% increase in aid
Efficiency gains cover costs in 1-2 years
Effectiveness gains cover costs in about a day
Conservative, but uncertain, estimates

7. What you can do
African governments speak out for transparency of donors
African citizens speak out for your right to know
Foundations and NGOs Commit to implement too. Build capacity.
Donor countries: Commit to open data standards
Everyone: Get involved in the technical work.

8. www.aidinfo.org www.aidtransparency.net owen@devinit.org