The government launches an aid web portal today (Sunday) to increase transparency and accountability in a bid to ensure more efficient aid management.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) officials said on Saturday the main objectives of the Aid Information Management System (AIMS) would be to establish a 'one-stop-shop' for making information on foreign assistance for Bangladesh available to all concerned.
"We are going to introduce the AIMS in such a manner that the government, development partners, academicians, economists, students and others can get updates on foreign assistance and projects from the web portal," said Monowar Ahmed, joint secretary of the ERD.
He said all the development partners would give inputs every time on their project operation in Bangladesh, aid commitment and disbursement information and pipeline funds etc.
"The initiative will help establish a transparent aid management system in the country resulting in feasible and fruitful use of foreign funds," Mr Ahmed said.
Finance minister AMA Muhith is expected to launch the AIMS at the ERD office in the city.
AIMS is an internationally acclaimed software application that records and processes information on development activities and related aid flows in a given country. AIMS captures project-level information on commitments, disbursements and expenditures by donors, implementing agencies, sectors and geographic location.
ERD officials said different kinds of AIMS software such as Development Assistance Database (DAD) and Aid Management Platform (AMP) were already installed in more than 40 countries. However, Bangladesh is one of the few countries to deploy a homegrown system.
The officials said AIMS is an essential tool to implement international mutual commitments on aid transparency reflected in the Paris Declaration of Aid Effectiveness (2005), the Accra Agenda for Action (2008), the Busan Partnership Document (2011) and the Mexico Communique (2014).
They said it would offer a single software application that records and processes information on development activities and related aid flows in the country.
AIMS has been designed in such a way that it can be made inter-operable with other government databases, ensuring a smooth information flow between all those who need ODA data in their day-to-day work.
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