It was first introduced more than five years ago, but after many negotiations, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act has been approved by the United States Congress and is on its way to President Barack Obama’s desk for his signature.
The legislation will require U.S. government agencies to closely monitor and evaluate all foreign aid programs based on their outcomes and improve transparency by publicly sharing the data about what’s working and what’s not, in large part through the foreignassistance.gov portal.
“I think it’s a very significant action by the Congress,” said George Ingram, a senior fellow with the global economy and development program at Brookings Institution, and the co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, whose reaction to the bill was a full-voiced “Hooray.”