USAID is committed to upholding the values of transparency, open government, participation, and collaboration in tangible ways that benefit the American people.

USAID's Foreign Aid Explorer

As the lead U.S. Government development agency, USAID is responsible for reporting whole-of-government official foreign assistance data and information to Congress and the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on an annual basis. The report to Congress is called the U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants report, commonly known as the "Greenbook", which provides a complete historical record of all foreign assistance provided by the United States to the rest of the world since 1946. USAID also reports Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Other Official Flows (OOF) to the OECD/DAC on behalf of the U.S. Government each year.

In order to fulfill these reporting requirements and to advance USAID's aid transparency commitments, USAID maintains a detailed database that powers the Foreign Aid Explorer. The Foreign Aid Explorer shows the multi-dimensional picture of U.S. foreign assistance through a highly visual and interactive website, making it easy for all users to find and retrieve the data they need. Interactive maps and graphics display the historical details of U.S. foreign assistance, allowing users to explore foreign aid data across countries, sectors, and over time. More advanced users can quickly download their desired data using our data query tools or by selecting from a choice of prepared files, including those used for Greenbook and OECD/DAC reporting.

International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI)

USAID plays a leading role in ensuring the U.S. Government meets its commitments under the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) to publish up-to-date information in a common, open format. The objective is to make it easy for stakeholders to find, use, and compare their information with other donors' reporting on foreign aid spending. 

IATI is a voluntary, multi-stakeholder initiative that includes donors, partner countries, civil society organizations and private enterprises that aims to make information about foreign aid spending easier to access, use, and understand. At the center of IATI is the IATI Standard, a framework for publishing data on development activities. USAID publishes IATI data quarterly, including financial and descriptive data about USAID’s activities. 

Evaluation

Relevant and high-quality evaluations are important for tracking the progress, results and effectiveness of international development programs. USAID's evaluation findings are shared as widely as possible, with a commitment to full and active disclosure, per the Evaluation Policy, which sets high standards for ensuring quality, relevance and transparency. Final USAID evaluation reports are available to the public at the Development Experience Clearinghouse. (See also the Performance Reporting page of USAID's website for additional performance and results reporting). To learn more about evaluation at USAID, please visit www.usaid.gov/evaluation.

Open Data and the Development Data Library

In October 2014, USAID released a new policy on development data, with a primary focus on openness and transparency. The policy advances the Agency’s commitment to ensure that USAID-funded data are continuously available for the global good and paves the way for providing the public access to these data. As a result, the Agency modified all of its awards to stipulate that USAID-funded data must be submitted to (or registered with) a central data repository and made publicly available to the most responsible extent possible, while protecting individual privacy, security, and other considerations allowable by law. 

USAID established the Development Data Library (DDL) as its central data repository for preserving and publishing data. The DDL is located at www.usaid.gov/data, and our hundreds of partners around the world submit data to this site on an ongoing basis. These data cover topics ranging from food security in Bangladesh, to HIV prevention efforts in Zambia, to youth participation in Georgian civil society, to construction and anti-corruption efforts across the globe. As USAID enhances the capabilities of the DDL, the Agency regularly releases new datasets to help advance efforts in support of sustainable development and to generate new insight into some of the most intractable challenges in international development.

Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS)

A Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), typically a five-year strategy, defines a Mission's chosen approach in a country, articulates the self reliance trajectory, and details expected results,. The CDCS provides a roadmap for how USAID will design and implement projects and activities, and is made available publicly. Within two months of CDCS approval, the USAID Mission disseminates a public version of the plan that is posted on the Agency's website and to the Development Experience Clearinghouse. It is used to inform dialogue with Congress, engage host country partners and other stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society as the Mission moves forward with strategy implementation and project design. Doing so demonstrates the U.S. government’s commitment to transparency and good governance abroad as well as at home.

Aid Transparency Country Pilot Assessment

Aid Transparency Country Pilot Assessment

To help inform the U.S. Government’s aid transparency agenda, USAID conducted three aid transparency country pilot studies in Zambia, Ghana, and Bangladesh. The country pilots assessed the demand for and relevance of information that the U.S. Government is making available, as well as the capacity of different groups to use it. The final report summarizes findings from the three pilots and provides recommendations to help improve the transmission of foreign assistance data to ensure the transparency efforts of the U.S. Government positively contributes to development.