Publish What You Fund – a UK-based lobby group – is wanting governments to be more transparent with what they fund using their Aid budgets. Overseas Development Aid (ODA) is a tiny amount of the annual budgets of donor countries (for almost all donor countries it is less than 0.5% of the annual budget), but the funds are likely to be used for all kinds of interesting and wacky things that the majority of us would not really consider development aid. Together these little bits of money from donor government do add up to around $150 billion USD (see BBC article) – a big pot to an individual’s eyes, but peanuts in the grand scheme of things.
Publish What You Fund says that we, as taxpayers, and the citizens of recipient countries to whom the money exists to help (at least theoretically) should have more information about where the money is going. I think it is a great idea and ask you to consider signing the petition calling on governments to be more transparent. Join me here!
Check out this interesting petition to make governments more transparent about their international aid!