Lauren Pfeifer

The Millennium Challenge Corporation recognizes that transparency, aid effectiveness and accountability are all linked, which is why it has made a commitment to open data. Photo credit: Jake Lyell/Millennium Challenge Corporation We’ve been talking about open data a lot lately. In my interview with Oluseun Onigbinde, he told you why open budget data is important for

Oluseun Onigbinde is an Ashoka Fellow and co-founder of  BudgiT, a Nigerian startup using creative technology to represent budgets and public data. Lauren Pfeifer of ONE’s policy team sat down with Oluseun to talk about his website, open data and how he’s working to increase the transparency of the Nigerian government. You’re the co-founder of BudgiT. What

Yesterday, the President signed an Executive Order committing all federal government data to be open and accessible by default. This isn’t the first time that President Obama has signed an executive order about the importance of transparency and open government. So, what makes yesterday different? This time, we’re talking about an open data policy with

President Lula’s speech directly preceded the awarding of the 2013 Africare Leadership Award to Dr. Mo Ibrahim, ONE board member and friend. Dr. Ibrahim made his fortune in telecommunications, as founder of Celtel International, one of Africa’s most successful businesses.

Lauren Pfeifer, ONE’s Transparency and Accountability Research Assistant, discusses how 4.6 billion people around the world do not have access to budget information. Last week, the Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation launched their budget transparency campaign – Make Budgets Public Now! The campaign will focus on ensuring that governments publish the essential documents that enable citizens and civil society to participate in the budget processes in their country, and ensure that their priorities are being addressed in those budgets.

Lauren Pfeifer, ONE’s Transparency and Accountability Research Assistant, shares Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s call for transparency and accountability mechanisms in the oil industry of Ghana. Renowned Nigerian economist and member of ONE’s Board of Directors Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala advised Ghana on the importance of building transparency and accountability mechanisms into the DNA of its fledgling oil industry. Speaking

Over the past few years, so many apps have popped up that there are thousands of jokes about it. In the development space, many of these apps are filling different vacuums. Some provide information that has the potential to make development more transparent, others facilitiate feedback loops where they wouldn’t have existed before, or provide information that allows citizens to hold elected officials accountable.

Last week, I answered frequently asked questions about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – what they are, why they’re important, and what we want to see in the next round. This week, I want to focus on how the MDGs have sharpened efforts and accelerated progress toward meeting some of the world’s biggest development challenges.

This week, Malawi’s Presidential jet was put on the auction block. President Joyce Banda is selling the $13.3 million (£8.5 million) jet to pay for essential services for her country’s poorest people, and help mitigate the currency devaluation her country is suffering. Originally purchased by then-President Mutharika in 2009, who claimed the jet would be