Development Initiatives

Development Initiatives implements the aidinfo program so that citizens in developing countries can use information about foreign aid to hold governments, donors, and service providers to account and thereby increase the effectiveness of aid. The program also supports the uptake and implementation of the International Aid Transparency Initiative data standard by piloting citizen efforts to access and analyze the data. Moving into its third phase, aidinfo plans to expand its direct engagement in East Africa, working with local groups, including other Hewlett Foundation grantees, to strengthen the analysis of aid information in relation to domestic budget information. The objective is to foster feedback loops connecting citizens—the ultimate beneficiaries of aid—to the decision makers who allocate aid so that it can be used most effectively and in alignment with the other resources available for poverty reduction and better service delivery.

Development Initiatives’ Information to End Poverty program (InfoTEP) seeks to make information about aid and other poverty-related financing more transparent, accessible, and useful. Building on its expertise helping to shape the International Aid Transparency Initiative, InfoTEP is advocating for a global agreement to open data on all poverty reduction resources. Working with local partners in Kenya, Uganda, and Nepal, InfoTEP would help watchdog groups to access and understand this data so they can use the information to advocate for better resource allocation decisions. InfoTEP also seeks to enable strong feedback loops between national development priorities and international commitments such as the post-2015 development goals.