freedom1 Forum organized a Sharing Workshop on Aid Transparency Study Findings on June 15, 2012.
Executive Director of the freedom1 Forum, Krishna Sapkota welcomed the participants and shed light on the objective of the workshop while Chairperson Taranath Dahal chaired and facilitated the program.
The workshop was organized to share the findings of the freedom1 Forum’s study on the aid transparency in various seven main donor agencies in Nepal, and to garner further suggestions from the participants.
In the program, Victoria Room, Policy Advisor to the Aidinfo, said the study conducted by the freedom1 Forum was an opportunity to learn about donors in Nepal. She lauded the FF’s study reasoning it helped in to boost up people’s access to information.
With this, the global campaign for transparency came to Nepal, she said, adding that the study was done for the transparency and accountability of the donors.
Development practitioner, Basant Lamsal with direct involvement in this project with FF, made presentation about the findings of study.
According to the presentation of the findings, all donor agencies in general said they abided by transparency.
The RTI Act might have made them transparent. But, the stakeholders of the project were unaware about the project budget.
Dolakha district mostly use media for information sharing. Similarly, UNDP and USAID use social media information sharing.
Chitwan was in the forefront to share information through press release.
JICA provides information immediately while Norwegian Embassy provides information in 15 days. The World Bank was in the forefront about the knowledge on various instruments as Paris Declaration, ADB, USAID, UKAID and others.However, the Norwegian Embassy had least knowledge about this.
All district organizations are aware of RTI Act.
Despite these, finding information officer in the donor agencies was very difficult. There was difference between the commitment and practice in the donor agencies. Also, there was lack of coordination in donor agency.
Following the presentation, UNDP Representative, Niraj Shrestha, said the sample size was very low. He suggested making the study comprehensive. The UNDP was developing a system to provide information quickly.
The types of information to be provided under transparency should be clarified first, he suggested.
Section Officer at Finance Ministry, Prakash Niraula, thanked the FF for taking such initiative. He informed at the program that the Finance Ministry was launching the Aid Management Platform (AMP) very soon.
Through the AMP, the government would provide various information about the NGO and INGOs. He further said the role of media and civil society had constructive role to make government transparent.
Similarly, Director General at the Information Department, Laxmi Bilash Koirala suggested the FF to prod donor agencies for transparency as it does to government.
Local Development Officer at Dolakha district Rishiraj Acharya said the NGOs could not approach with due process to get information.
Chandan Sapkota, writer on economic issues, commented that the research looked like perception survey. He added that 90 percent information is revealed by the I/NGOs while 10 percent hidden, and these hidden information holds meaning in terms of transparency.
As many as 39 persons had participated in the program.