On 21 & 22 February 2011, senior officials from African ministries of finance and ministries tasked with aid coordination and budget management met in Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss the main elements needed to promote and implement greater aid transparency. The meeting was attended by 23 African countries and key stakeholders from multilateral and civil society organizations. It resulted in a mandate given to CABRI to draft a common position based on the results of the Cape Town meeting. The draft Position on Aid Transparency was shared widely with senior government officials from all over Africa. Their feedback and practical insights helped to shape the Position that now presents a key building block of the African input to the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, in November 2011.

 The CABRI Common Position on Aid Transparency is a technical document that spells out clear and achievable steps for donor and recipient countries alike to make aid more transparent. As such, the Position is an important element in concretizing the commitments made in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action. In particular, it addresses the principles of mutual accountability and country ownership in a pragmatic manner, recognizing that specific guidelines are needed to breathe life into the broad and most contentious principles.

 It is now commonly recognized that aid transparency is key in achieving better and sustainable development results. The CABRI Common Position on Aid Transparency defines aid to be transparent when there is comprehensive, timely, reliable, useful, and accessible information on aid available to country governments and citizens. This entails that both donors and recipients need to create and strengthen systems and institutions that can live up to these five requirements. The Position is ambitious but attainable. It sets out first steps to be taken by donor and recipient countries to implement the various technical requirements to make aid more transparent and eventually more effective.

 Since the publication of the CABRI Position on Aid Transparency, CABRI and CABRI member countries have collaborated closely with key stakeholders – such as the OECD, NEPAD, the International Budget Partnership and the World Bank- to shape the outcome documents of Busan. The 4th High Level Forum will be an important meeting to review the impact of aid and will help to transform relationships between donors and developing countries for improved aid and development effectiveness. CABRI will be present at Busan to promote its vision on aid transparency, an important building block for better and more effective aid. As of 2012, CABRI is planning to put words into practice. Currently, a three-year program on budget and aid transparency is being developed. The aim is to assist member countries to live up to the commitments of the CABRI Position and the outcomes of Busan in order to realize the full potential of aid for the development of Africa.

Click here to download CABRI's position on Aid Transparency .

Aid transparency presentations and papers are available below:

1. Keynote Address for the Aid Transparency and Good Financial Governance Conference
2. Overview of International Efforts for Aid Transparency

For more information, visit the following blog: 

Overseas Development Institute Blog