AusAID / About AusAID / Transparency Framework

Transparency framework

What our stakeholders tell us they expect from greater transparency

We asked people who work with or are interested in the aid program what greater transparency means to them and how greater transparency would improve the effectiveness of the aid program.

We found that people want more information and more current information on what AusAID is doing. They want it to be easy to find and understand. Website users particularly want:

more content designed for the web (such as less text)
more layered information so they can click through to increasing levels of detail
more data visualisation using charts, and more images and video
improved navigation between information
easier ways to ask us questions or give us feedback
real life examples that put a human face on our information and tell a story.

How AusAID gives aid

AusAID gives aid by three primary routes:

bilateral aid is provided to a country or region
multilateral aid is provided to a country, region or global program through an organisation representing a number of countries (e.g. the United Nations)
emergency aid is provided for humanitarian and reconstruction programs and international emergencies.

Australia’s fundamental purpose for giving aid in these three ways is to support development and to help people overcome poverty. Internally, AusAID manages the aid budget through approximately sixty different programs. These programs are grouped together as either country programs (bilateral), global programs (multilateral) or humanitarian and emergency programs (emergency). These programs are then supported by specialist or sectoral advisers on health, gender etc.

The aid management cycle and the types of documents you can expect to find

The management of AusAID programs follows a defined process known as the aid management cycle. The phases or segments of the cycle do, by nature, overlap and the delineation is simply to help you navigate quickly to the documents that most serve your needs.

The cycle is not static—documents are uploaded and refreshed as an initiative progresses through each phase of the aid management cycle*.

As AusAID increasingly works through partner governments and/or development partners (e.g. NGOs, contractors and multilateral agencies) some of these documents may be named and/or prepared slightly differently by our partners. In these cases we will provide a link. In some cases there will be no equivalent.

Below are the types of documents you can expect to find under each initiative. The documents that have been uploaded will depend the type of initiative and how far it has progressed in the aid management cycle.


Statement of Commitment	Delivery Strategy	Annual Plans	Evaluation Report
Exchange of Letters	Concept Document	Monitoring Report	Completion Report
Subsidiary Agreement	Design Document	Evaluation Plan
	Quality at Entry Report	Program Coordination Committee Report
	Request for Tender	Development Cooperation Report
	Tender Briefings	Analytical Report
	Contract Award Notices	Annual Program Performance Report
	Annual Procurement Plan
	Annual Grant Plan
	Senate Order Contracts List

*AusAID is committed to publishing documents and data concerning Australia’s official development assistance in a way that is comprehensive, accessible and current. Not all material published on this site is created by AusAID and therefore not all documents reflect the views of the Australian Government. In limited circumstances some information may be withheld for reasons including privacy and commercial sensitivity. An important objective of the Transparency Initiative is to promote broad-based understanding, analysis and discussion of aid issues and to inform the future delivery of Australia’s aid program.

Last reviewed: 4 April, 2012