CSOs urge Niebel to continue supporting IATI

Three weeks after Steering Committee Meeting of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) on July 7th in Paris PublishWhatYouFund (PWYF) and other CSOs released a letter of civil society organisations addressed to the German Minister for Development Cooperation Dirk Niebel.

In this letter PWYF, Transparency International, BetterAid, the International Budget Partnership, CCIC and the Open Forum on CSO Development Effectiveness welcome the support of Germany for the international transparency agenda and highlight its role for aid effectiveness.

The Phase I of IATI will deliver important information, however, the main benefits of IATI for partner countries and civil society organisations are to be tackled in Phase II and III of the initiative.

Germany was one of the few donors that could not commit to the internationally agreed timetable for implementing Phase I. The signatories of this letter expressed their disappointment with the German position while at the same time acknowledging the challenges faced by German aid agencies in the context of major organisational challenges. PWYF and the co-signatories urge Germany to publish a detailed schedule about which information on development cooperation will be made public before the next High Level Meeting in Seoul in 2011. The signatories of this letter sent similar letters to other ministers for development cooperation. The official minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting will be published at the beginning of August on the IATI website.