From May 12 to 16, 2014, a USAID team consisting of three consultants and the USAID lead on the Aid Transparency Country Pilots (USAID/Policy, Planning and Learning Bureau (PPL)/Office of Donor Engagement) visited Lusaka, Zambia to conduct the first of three pilot studies on aid transparency. During this week, the team held 27 interviews with representatives of the Zambian government, including members of parliament as well as representatives of Zambian civil society organizations (CSOs), media organizations, the private sector and academia. In follow-up to the interviews, all interviewees received an Excel spreadsheet with USG agencies’ data from the ForeignAssistance.gov website and a survey about the user-friendliness of the ForeignAssistance.gov website. This provided interviewees with immediate access to detailed USG agencies’ aid data.

The team also hosted a round-table meeting with several other donors working in Zambia to discuss issues of aid transparency. A second round-table brought together relevant stakeholders, many of whom had been previously interviewed by the team, to solicit additional feedback, particularly on the USG’s ForeignAssistance.gov website. Finally, the team debriefed the USAID Mission in Zambia.