By David Zamora, ITI International Coordinator, CoST – Infrastructure Transparency Initiative 

“Transparency” in infrastructure is easy to agree with – and notoriously hard to deliver. 

Globally, trillions of dollars are invested in public infrastructure annually, yet up to 30% of this investment is lost to corruption and mismanagement. 

Governments commit to being transparent in how they plan and deliver public infrastructure. Strategies reference it. Platforms claim to enable it. But too often, no one is asking the harder question: is any of it actually working? 

The Infrastructure Transparency Index (ITI), developed by CoST, answers it.  

And crucially, it doesn’t stop at measurement. It gives practical recommendations for improvement. 

Built on a methodology that is objective, replicable for free by any government, and internationally comparable, we have already seen the ITI drive improvement in every country where it has been applied to date.  

Transparency is not enough 

Transparency itself is not the end goal. We are not aiming to simply publish data and call it a day. 

Instead, the ITI looks at transparency as a system by examining the wider enabling environment: whether institutions can deliver, whether citizens have a voice, and whether information is usable. 

The real impact happens when published data is used to drive accountability and public participation. That is what builds better infrastructure that meets communities’ needs. 

The ITI’s four dimensions make that explicit: 

• Enabling Environment – Are the rules and frameworks in place to support transparency? Are there the right information platforms to allow citizens access infrastructure information? 

• Institutional Capacities and Processes – Do procuring entities actually have the ability through systems, procedures and capability, to deliver? 

• Citizen Participation – Is engagement meaningful or performative? 

• Information Publication – Is high-quality, internationally comparable data on infrastructure available throughout the whole project lifecycle from planning to delivery to evaluation? And most importantly, do citizens meaningfully use it? 

This is not about ticking boxes or giving a score. It’s about taking a citizen-focused lens to answer whether transparency functions in practice. 

Measurement that leads to action 

Here’s where the ITI breaks from many global indices: it is designed to be used. Countries are not just scored. Findings are translated into practical recommendations to drive change. 

If transparency tools are working, you should be able to see it. 

With the ITI, you can. 

Countries that have repeated the assessment show measurable improvement over time. Costa Rica, for example, increased its relative score by 41% in four years. In Panama, they celebrated a 40.9% relative increase in their ITI score within three years. 

That’s not marginal progress. That’s institutional reform driving system change, tracked in real terms. 

And the results are tangible. In Ecuador, over 32,000 projects are now visible through a national data platform, making it possible to see where public money is going and raising new questions about risks and accountability. In Uganda, ITI findings led to safety interventions in flood-prone areas, with warning systems installed to prevent accidents. 

In Panama, this has meant integrating infrastructure and procurement platforms and introducing automated monitoring to strengthen accountability. In Costa Rica, it has driven legal reforms. And in West Lombok, Indonesia, it has created a locally owned, institutionalised system for managing and using project data. 

The acid test 

If transparency can’t be measured, it can’t be improved. If information isn’t used, it doesn’t matter. 

The ITI does both. 

And that’s why the ITI is not just another index. It tests whether infrastructure systems are willing to change and supports members achieve reform.  

Our members who have used the ITI have already shown they are willing to measure what matters and act on it.  

If you’re interested in finding out more, take a look at this story. If you want to know how you can apply the index, we’d love to hear from you at cost@infrastructuretransparency.org 

David is the principal author and international coordinator of the Infrastructure Transparency Index. David is also a consultant in digital transformation, transparency, open government, and open data in countries of Latin America, Asia, and Africa, with experience in international organizations such as the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Latin American Initiative for Open Data -ILDA. David is also the Research and Capacity Building Co-lead of the Global Data Barometer (GDB), and the GDB Latin America hub research coordinator.