The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) kicks off today in Busan, Korea and it is already making history: it is the first time that civil society will play a lead role in aid effectiveness negotiations in conjunction with governments and donors. The Forum aims to boost the impact of development aid through dialogue and cooperation, and looks to build on previous commitments made in both Paris and Accra to increase aid effectiveness and transparency.

At the moment, we do not know how much is being spent on aid, where it is spent or what it is spent on – and it is this lack of information that undermines aid effectiveness. Transparent aid delivery, where aid levels are monitored, assessed and documented, helps us understand where aid is going, where it has come from and whether conditions or contracts have been attached. This lets us assess how effective aid delivery really is, and allows citizens to hold their governments to account. Aid transparency assists in reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by giving aid recipients the chance to plan the effective use of their own resources, and allows donors to have a clearer understanding of what other donors and aid agencies are doing. These processes reduce corruption and increase the inclusion of various civil society actors at the grassroots level.

The HLF-4 is all about dialogue and cooperation to increase aid effectiveness and transparency, so start a conversation about aid transparency and the importance of the MDGs: sign the Make Aid Transparent petition, talk to your friends, family, and colleagues, write to your local MP to call for improved aid transparency, follow MPH on Twitter  or post your own comments on the MPH blog and facebook page. Just hours out from the opening of the HLF-4 in Busan, Korea, 55,000 people have signed the petition calling on donors to make their aid more transparent. The petition will be presented to ministers tomorrow during the second day of the Forum.

Starting a conversation about aid transparency and the MDGs has led to big changes just in time for the opening of HLF-4. On 23 November, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced the publication of detailed information on Australia’s aid program to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the program and to ensure that aid is “making a real difference in the lives of people in need around the world”. This is the result of conversation at both the local and international level and has successfully highlighted the need for aid transparency both here in Australia and around the world.

To see how the international aid transparency figures stack up, check out the Aid Transparency Index by Publish What You Fund.

Written by: Melissa Gillies, MPH Online Contributor

Image sourced from the Official Busan HFL-4 website

Make Poverty History along with 98 organisations from all over the world is calling on governments to publish more information about the aid they give. The campaign, Make Aid Transparent, will culminate in under three weeks’ time at a high level meeting on Aid Effectiveness in Korea where we will be urging governments to redouble efforts to meet their aid transparency promises.

Aid saves lives, puts kids into school, and reduces poverty and suffering. But only if it’s spent well. At the moment a lack of information about where aid money is being spent and on what is undermining aid’s effectiveness and causing waste and overlap. Rich country governments promised six years ago to do something about this but their progress has been minimal. And now they’re trying to row back even on the minimal progress made.

We need your voice to stop this from happening. Publishing more information about aid is not difficult and it could make a real and immediate difference in the fight against poverty and corruption. Aid donors have said they’ll change their ways – and now they must stop dragging their feet. Sign our petition to add your voice to the thousands of others calling on governments to keep their promises to Make Aid Transparent.

As citizens and taxpayers we have a right to know how aid money is being spent. So please join the campaign, sign the petition, and tell your friends.  Your voice will make a difference and show governments meeting in Korea from November 29-Dec 1 that lack of progress is no longer acceptable. Publishing more and better information about aid is a vital first step in improving coordination and targeting of aid spending – and thereby ensuring it makes the biggest difference possible. Please join us and sign the petition!

The global Tax Justice Network has released the latest Financial Secrecy Index. The index provides a ranking order of countries most aggressively providing secrecy in global finance. In working to achieve the MDGs, MPH supports the index as it calls attention to the importance of ensuring that developing countries are receiving the revenue they are entitled to. Tax evasion deprives developing countries of vital revenue for health, education and other essential services and keeps them dependent on foreign aid.

There are 71 countries on the Financial Secrecy Index, as countries that not only provide tax breaks for foreigners, but also have laws hindering authorities from combating tax evaders. The top ten countries on the Index are Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, USA, Singapore, Jersey, Japan, Germany and Bahrain. The index can be found at http://www.financialsecrecyindex.com/

Global Financial Integrity has calculated that collectively developing countries lost US$1,264 billion in illicit financial flows in 2008, much of this money laundered through secrecy jurisdictions.

In our region, Hong Kong and Singapore have welcomed huge inflows of tax-evading and other criminal money. The research on the Financial Secrecy Index has found tax havens have been quietly adding stronger and more devious secrecy facilities that assist tax evaders.

The good news is tax evasion is being tolerated far less globally than it was just a few years ago. However, there is a long way to go before developing countries will be able to count on being able to collect the tax revenue they are entitled to.

Written by Mark Zirnsak, Director, Justice & International Mission