News:
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has more than doubled its score on the 2020 Aid Transparency Index, run by Publish what you Fund and carried out every two years. This year the Ministry has scored 77.6 out of 100 and is ranked 13th out of 47 donors. This was the best improvement by any donor in the 2020 assessment.
Improving the transparency of its Aid Programme has been an important project for New Zealand over the last two years. Transparency is a cornerstone of good development practice; knowing what is being spent where, by who, and with what results, is crucial for effective aid delivery, coordination and accountability.
The improved score also reflects New Zealand’s commitment to high standards of openness, accountability and transparency across government and in all areas of public expenditure both at home and abroad.
Transparency is critical to the international development agenda, it is specifically targeted by the 2030 Agenda as SDG16.6 to be pursued by all countries; and it is a core principle of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. Transparent governance through good quality and accessible information helps to build trust in, and accountability of, institutions and reduces risk of corruption. It helps citizens hold governments to account.
Aid transparency yields specific benefits. Citizens and stakeholders in countries that provide aid have a right to know that those funds are spent effectively and that they achieve results. Governments and citizens of recipient countries also have a right to access useful information on the policy, priorities, plans and activities that are relevant to their own development planning and accountability.
An improved Aid Transparency score is just the beginning of a journey to provide clearer more open communication about New Zealand’s Aid. MFAT has developed a work programme to continuously improve transparency and communication to partners, beneficiaries, the international development community and the New Zealand public. This will include providing more detailed information, and ensuring publicly available data remains current by publishing regularly through the year.
For further information:
- Where we publish our IATI data on MFAT website
- Publish what you fund website - 2020 Index page(external link)