Government Spending
In 2008, DFI launched the Government Spending Watch initiative.This is the only global database tracking government spending on the SDGs in 82 countries and has become the “go to” location for transparent comparable and up-to-date (2016) data and analysis on government spending for a wide range of UN and multilateral organisations, CSOs and bilateral donors. It will shortly be expanded to cover 155 countries and updated for 2017 data. This programme has been run in a formal partnership with Oxfam, and supported by a wide range of other organisations including AHBN, GCE, Global Partnership for Education, IBP, ILO, Save the Children, SDSN, Water Aid, UNESCO, UNICEF and UN Women.
It has produced three major global reports: the first in 2012 helped the IMF to change its policies on tracking government social spending; the second in 2013 was a huge step forward in data publication and transparency on government spending; and the third in 2015 had a major impact on focusing discussions in the Addis Ababa FFD conference on progressive taxation and spending to fight poverty and inequality.