The World Bank organised a DeMPA training held at the Joint Vienna Institute, Vienna, Austria. About 30 students from fifteen countries participated and were exposed to the DeMPA methodology through presentations, country case studies presented by some participants and hands-on exercices. Participants also learnt about and how to elaborate a Reform Plan. 

DFI chaired a session of the World Bank Debt Management Facility conference in Berlin, examining non-concessional financing for IDA countries. For the presentations made at the conference, see here. The conference also held a meeting of the DMF Technical Advisory Group which discussed the evaluation of the DMF and the forthcoming work programme. 

DFI and two national experts are assisting the Government of Niger, funded by the World Bank, in a study to identify how to accelerate disbursement and implementation of investment projects. Preliminary results have already revealed procurement bottlenecks, and an action plan to overcome these will be validated by the authorities soon in a national workshop.

UNDP and the Institute for Policy Dialogue of Columbia University organized pre-launches of the Government Spending Watch report, website and database. The UNDP meeting was attended by many UN and IPU officials, and both meetings provided the chance for discussions with technical partners and UN agencies on future cooperation. For a copy of the UNDP presentation, please see here.  

DFI participated in this meeting on the role of philanthropic organizations in the post-2015 setting, held in the UN ECOSOC in New York. The meeting discussed improving monitoring and analysis on best practices in support by philanthropists for global development, and their views on the post-2015 agenda . For more details, see here.  

DFI participated in a seminar on the FSB organized by New Rules for Global Finance, sharing views between insiders and campaigners, and in various private meetings on the FSB. For full details of the FSB seminar, click here. 

Oxfam America and DFI, in partnership with Publish What You Fund, organized the Washington pre-launch of the Government Spending Watch report, website and database. The pre-launch was attended by many high-level US government officials, advocates and researchers interested in budget transparency and MDG spending. Kevin Watkins of Brookings, Jo Marie Griesgraber of New Rules and Sally Paxton of PWYF commented on the report findings and the overall initiative. For a copy of the executive summary please see here. The Washington launch was preceded by meetings about GSW with other technical partners, including the IMF, World Bank and International Budget Partnership, and also the findings and ways forward were discussed with representatives from many low-income country governments.

The Government Spending Watch initiative was lauched at Oxfam America on 19 April with the presentation of the Executive Summary of the 2013 report .The full report will be launched at the UK launch on 16 May at 12.30 BST at the Overseas Development Institute. 

DFI worked with OIF to organize the first spring ministerial and technical meetings of the OIF Finance Ministries Network on Financing for Development. The meetings made decisions on the scope of future work and discussed their preferences for channeling additional concessional financing – via multilateral organizations rather than bilateral development banks or agencies, or global vertical funds. It also discussed priorities for future technical papers and newsletters, as well as plans for intensive assistance to pilot countries in developing financing strategies, and plans for advocacy and coordination around G8, G20 and African Caucus meetings.Activities of the network and relevant news and documents will be published in a  quarterly newsletter.

DFI took part in discussions with New Rules technical partners and Board members on the forthcoming GFGIR, which will analyse the governance and impact on sustainable development of the G20, IMF, World Bank, FSB, OECD and UN. The report will be written by a multi-agency team including DFI and launched at the BWI Annual Meetings.