Transparency

The Australian public and the recipients of Australian aid have a right to know that Australian aid funds are spent effectively, achieve real results and help people to overcome poverty.

With good information, taxpayers and aid recipients can hold governments accountable and the risk of corruption is reduced. The Australian Government is committed to improving the transparency of the Australian aid program.

To give effect to this commitment AusAID will:

• be transparent and open about Australia’s international development programs.
• publish detailed information on AusAID’s work - our policies, plans, processes, the results of Australian aid activities and our evaluations - on AusAID’s website to explain where Australia’s money is spent and its impact on reducing poverty.
• publish this information in a timely fashion and in a format that is useful and accessible.
• welcome public feedback to help us further improve the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of the aid program and achieve better value for money.
• allow anyone to re-use our information when AusAID is the source, provided AusAID is acknowledged.

AusAID will implement our Charter immediately by:

• regularly updating information and data about AusAID country program activities—including expenditure, results and annual performance reports, within more comprehensive webpages.
• fully participating in the International Aid Transparency Initiative that provides data for comparison and critical analysis of aid program results.
• publishing local language summaries of Australian aid programs in local media and on the webpages for Australia’s major aid programs.
• publishing annual targets for improvement of transparency in the aid program.
• increasing the number of documents published in AusAID’s Information Publication Scheme.
• welcoming public feedback on this Charter and our performance against it.

 

Download a copy of the AusAID Transparency Charter [PDF 84kb]

Media release: Transparency in the aid program [external website]

Since launching the Transparency Charter in November 2011 AusAID has increased the amount of detailed information publicly available on the work of the Australian aid program.  In 2012 the agency upgraded its web platform to support dynamic data and published new web pages for all its country, regional, thematic and specific programs covering multilateral, bilateral, Australian Civilian Corp and NGO activities.

Over 2,600 separate documents have been added to the program web pages and captured under the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). Search the IPS register of documents

Australia’s aid program is a whole of government effort. Government agencies responsible for delivering development aid will progressively publish new web pages with details of their initiatives on AusAID’s website throughout 2013.

Selected web content for 17 major and a further four minor country programs will be progressively published in local languages during 2013. A total of 33 local languages will be published as some countries have two or more official languages.

AusAID participated in the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) [external website] throughout 2012 by publishing on the IATI registry [external website] country level data for the 2009–10 and 2010–11 financial years for 22 countries in the Pacific and East Asia regions. All the remaining country data will be provided to the IATI registry by June 2013 and will also include estimates for the 2011–12 financial year.

AusAID’s new partnership agreements and contracts include clauses encompassing the principles of transparency.

Feedback on our implementation of the Transparency Charter is encouraged through AusAID’s Engage blog, Twitter, Facebook, email and stakeholder forums.

AusAID’s score in the 2012 Aid Transparency Index [external website] reflected the transparency improvements completed prior to May 2012—since then there has been new web content for more than half of the agency’s programs. The 2013 index score will reflect AusAID’s new transparent operating environment when it is released later in the year.

See a larger version of the timeline

Aid transparency plan 2013:

• Program information and data updated: January to February and April to June 2013
• Publish local language web pages: December 2012 onwards
• Publish web pages for aid programs managed by government agencies other than AusAID: December 2012 to June 2013
• All country data sets and estimates for 2011–12 financial year in IATI registry: December 2012 to June 2013
• Additions to AusAID's website continue to be captured by the IPS: December 2012 onwards
• The geocoding of AusAID’s aid activities is scheduled to commence in July 2013.