UNCDF Executive Secretary, David Morrison, announced today UNCDF has become a member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). Mr. Morrison signed onto IATI during the Fourth High Level forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), which took place 29 November – 1 December 2011 in Busan, Republic of Korea.

"UNCDF is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability.Increasing aid transparency helps to foster the accountability needed for ensuring development effectiveness. Joining IATI means our work – from strengthening financial sectors and making them more inclusive, to working with local governments to improve infrastructure investment and delivery of basic services – will meet the highest international standards of transparency."

IATI aims to improve the public availability and accessibility of information on aid. Today's announcement makes UNCDF the 27^th donor signatory. Publication to IATI's common, open international standard will make this information much easier to find, use and compare. This in turn will help donors and developing country governments to plan and manage precious aid resources more effectively, and maximize the impact of aid in reducing poverty. And it will help parliaments, civil society organizations and citizens in both aid-giving and aid-receiving countries to hold their governments to account for aid spending.

"UNCDF signature to IATI comes at a pivotal time for the future of aid transparency, exactly during the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness," noted Mr. Morrison. "We recognize that credible and timely information is essential to deliver the knowledge and lessons from our development programs. Joining IATI is the next step in enhancing our access to information for the multiple stakeholders of our work in the 48 world's least developed countries."