In a recently published report on Swedish aid transparency, drawn up on behalf of the Expert Group for Aid Analysis (EBA), the report’s authors say that transparency requires an investment in information and altered knowledge. At the same time, the government has just drastically reduced support for information and research on aid.
Aid is one of the largest areas of expenditure in the state budget. The goal is better living conditions for people living in poverty and oppression.
250 years of transparency principle
In times of growing humanitarian crisis and democratic decline around the world, it is important that this money is used in the best way, for taxpayers, but to an even greater extent more for the people who live in poverty and oppression. To be able to make that assessment, transparency is needed for those who manage, review and develop the aid and for all of us involved in making it happen. financing.
The open data published on openaid.se is not enough to achieve transparent Swedish aid.
A transparent public sector is a cornerstone of Swedish society. For more than 250 years, we have had the principle of openness, which has given us the right of citizens to participate in public documents. And since 2010, there has been a special transparency guarantee which says that support must be found from the decision of the Riksdag to the results of individual efforts. This is done by publishing information about relief efforts open.seand it is reported to IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative), which constantly compares how well different countries report their aid data. In the most recent measurement in 2022, Sweden came in 21st place (out of 50).
Sweden can be better
In a report for the Expert Group for Aid Analysis (EBA), we have examined the visibility of Swedish aid, why Sweden came so low in the international comparison and what it say about the transparency of Swedish support.
We draw two general conclusions:
Sweden can do better to get information about our international support. Our analysis shows that it is about relatively simple efforts to improve the quantity and quality of data published. In the long term, it would also mean that Sweden gets a better position in international comparisons.
The open data published on openaid.se is not enough to achieve transparent Swedish aid. We have investigated what information different users need to achieve purposes such as accountability, learning, coordination or generating ideas. We can see that data about individual interventions is rarely or never requested, but basic information about the purpose, implementation and results of the aid.
This is how Sweden should work
We want to highlight three aspects of transparency that we believe should influence how we in Sweden work with transparency around support:
- Transparency is essential for democratic discourse – In order for us to have a meaningful debate about aid, we need a basic knowledge of how aid works. Transparency therefore embraces educational information at a holistic level.
- Transparency is essential for accountability – Depending on whether the user is a member of parliament who is going to govern, a researcher who conducts an investigation or a journalist who reviews support, information must be changed to according to the purpose to be transparent.
- Transparency is essential for learning – Researchers who review aid data and develop new knowledge are essential for the development of Swedish aid. A resource base of Swedes who can research and evaluate support is needed.
So transparent support requires more than open data. It also requires processed information that is adapted to the different needs of recipients and requires expertise from those who review and develop the aid.
Is it time to perhaps focus again on information support and research support as support, Aid Minister Johan Forssell?
2024-08-09 02:11:50
#Open #support #requires #open #data #Altinget
