Date: 2024-04-29 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00004977
Peter Burgess Dialog
Transparency
The Guardian ... Global Development Professionals Network
Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
15 June 2013
Dear Peter,
What does it take for global development organisations to be truly transparent? This week we ran features and a live chat focusing on how to build transparency, and increase accountability.
We've also been asking our readers to send in the best innovations they've seen that reduce food loss or improve nutrition in development countries. We've had some great ones so far, and there's still time to send in yours before we publish the top 10. Email them over, or tweet them using the hashtag #foodinnovations.
Next week is refugee week, and we're marking the occasion with a live chat on refugee innovations. Join us on Thursday, June 20, and find more information in the 'Have your say' section.
Best wishes,
Anna Scott Content co-ordinator
Highlights from the Global Development Professionals Network
Your question 'What does it take for global development organisations to be truly transparent?' has been on and off the agenda for the best part of 40 years in my personal experience working as a consultant paid for by the UN system, the World Bank and others.
I had a corporate career in financial management, and was a corporate CFO. In the business world, the accounting function is taken seriously and a big part of the job is ensuring that there is internal accounting and accountability for the resources of the enterprise. Nothing like it exists in either government or in the official development assistance (ODA) community. In these organizations the accountants do paper pushing voucher based work that has little or nothing to do with decision making and only does accountability at the bottom of the organization. The big investigations are ad hoc exercises that really do very little except to provide cover for the people at the top who are responsible.
As a professionally trained accountant working in the ODA space, it was easy to see where the money was going. Getting senior people in the ODA organizations to pay attention to the issue proved far more difficult.
My impression is that there is more talk today about corruption than 30 years ago, but I do not sense that there is anything really serious being done to solve the problem ... like upgrading the basic accounting throughout the organizations engaged in all aspects of development assistance.
Peter Burgess
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Peter Burgess
TrueValueMetrics ... Meaningful Metrics for a Smart Society
Eliza Anyangwe
to me
I'm away from the office. Will be checking emails intermittently but you can also get in touch with the lovely Anna Scott if it's content related and urgent. Her email address is anna.scott.casual@guardian.co.uk.
If it's about commercial opportunities with the Network, David Mills is your man. David.Mills@guardian.co.uk
Thanks!
Eliza Anyangwe, senior content co-ordinator Guardian Global Development Network
+ 44 (0) 203 353 2973 @elizatalks Twitter: @GdnGlobalDevPro LinkedIn: Global development professionals
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