In November 2011, the United States became a signatory to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). IATI developed a standard for publishing foreign assistance spending data that allows for comparison across publishers. Publish What You Fund (PWYF), a United Kingdom-based nongovernmental organization advocating for greater aid transparency, assesses 60+ bilateral and multilateral donors’ overall commitment to aid transparency and the information they publish in an annual Aid Transparency Index (ATI). In 2014, USAID ranked 31st out of 68 donors and was at the bottom of the “Fair” category.

USAID stood up a small, technical working group to produce a cost management plan (CMP) in order to improve its reporting to IATI and, thereby, improve the Agency’s score in the ATI. The plan elaborates on the necessary requirements (for example, political movement/discussions, technical work, system upgrades) and estimated timeline for implementation to advance in these areas. Recognizing the level of effort involved with the improvements varies greatly, the CMP outlines a four-phased approach. 

We are already seeing results. USAID’s score in PWYF's 2015 Aid Transparency Review jumped by more than 20 points, propelling USAID to the “Good” category.

Please note, that on 7/14/15 the percentages in the chart on page 6 were corrected and are now consistent with the rest of the document.