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Accepted Contribution:
Following Money through Aid Infostructures: for-profit contractors and the black holes of development financing
Paul Gilbert
(University of Sussex)
Olivia Taylor
(University of Sussex)
An outline of methodologies we have been developing to 'follow the money' through aid transparency infostructures, public accounts, and proprietary datasets; and an examination of the particular challenges involved with tracing aid flows through private sector implementation chains
Contribution long abstract:
In this contribution we present an outline of methodologies we have been developing to 'follow the money' through aid transparency infostructures, public accounts, and proprietary datasets. We highlight the particular challenges involved with tracing aid flows through private sector implementation chains. The open data infrastructures established in response to the aid transparency agenda of the 2000s are increasingly inadequate for illuminating contemporary UK aid flows, for several reasons: ‘non-aid’ government departments such as the Home Office never operated fully within the remit of open aid data and are handling a rising proportion of the aid budget; plus a rising proportion of UK aid is awarded to for-profit contractors, some disappearing into opaque ‘implementation chains’ across multiple territories. Following the money through these new ‘aid’ pathways has required engagement with open data infrastructures, proprietary datasets, and experimentation with freedom of information requests and scrutiny of government and corporate accounts.