Since our initiation we have put Value for Money at the forefront of our approach. One way we do this is by joining up our programmes to hear from each other’s achievements, what have been the key factors to their success and how they can be replicated in other contexts. In these settings we also welcome teams to talk openly about the challenges they face so that we can work through them together.

This year we brought together all our programmes at our annual national managers workshop which was followed by separate regional meetings for our members in Latin America and Africa. Our members reported highly positive feedback from these events, with the majority stating afterwards they felt inspired to further efforts for greater infrastructure transparency and accountability in their relevant contexts. This was also evidence through the ambitious commitments made towards CoST scale up in their annual national action plans which were finalised at the events.

Uniting CoST members from all corners of the world

In August, our members from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Ukraine and Honduras came together for three days of immersive learning and sharing at our annual national managers workshop.

To open the event, each member and the CoST International Secretariat (CoST IS) presented highlights from the last year. Across our disclosure feature achievements were presented on government commitments to disclose data in Afghanistan, El Salvador and Ukraine and Malawi (where a legal mandate on disclosure established). Regarding our social accountability feature successes included an increase in the number and range of citizenship engagement activities undertaken by members, such as Uganda convening a community meeting which led to significant change of public perceptions on infrastructure projects in their communities, and Ethiopia using its media contacts to engage citizens on its assurance report findings despite operating in a politically challenging environment. And concerning our assurance feature, alongside a number of assurance reports being published throughout the year, action was taken to remedy assurance concerns in Ukraine, Honduras and other countries.

How we advance our core features

To build on and replicate achievements seen among CoST members, our workshop focussed on the root cause of success in furthering transparency and accountability, placing particular emphasis on the value of using innovation and establishing legal mandates.

Sessions facilitated by our team of technical advisers and regional managers demonstrated the innovative approach taken by CoST in developing new tools and standards to scale up data disclosure and how these can be used by all members in the future. Such tools include an open data standard for infrastructure which incorporates the CoST Infrastructure Data Standard (CoST IDS) and the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS), an Infrastructure Transparency Index and our work developing a framework for public private partnership (PPP) data disclosure on infrastructure projects which uses the CoST IDS, World Bank PPP Disclosure Framework and the OCDS.

Other sessions focussed on the importance of getting CoST Assurance right – looking at good practice in carrying out the process, from working with the assurance team to ensuring a robust review of assurance reports.

Speaking through the issues

During the workshop, representatives from our programmes were able to speak openly about some of the challenges they face, highlighting common barriers encountered in their daily operations or concerns on political changes and ensuring sustainable infrastructure transparency and accountability. To talk through approaches to effective multi-stakeholder working, we welcomed guest speaker Eddie Rich from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – an organisation which also takes uses multi-stakeholder groups to advance its mission. Other sessions looked at advancing fundraising, identifying regional advocacy and partnership opportunities and implementing policies relating to safe guarding and data protection.

Bringing Latin American members together in Panama

To build on the ambitious targets set in London and to enhance sharing and issues mitigation from a regional perspective, we brought together our national programmes in Latin America for a regional workshop in Panama in October. Our five Latin American members, including national managers and representatives of MSGs came together to develop and finalise their national action plans initiated in London, to collaborate on similar issues (such as managing political instability) and to learn about regional CoST developments such as plans for enabling the online platform of Honduras, SISOCS to be made open source and accessible to any country. The event also homed in on key topics for the region such as Occupation Health and Safety (OHS), ensuring ethics and integrity in infrastructure delivery, welcoming external speakers to deliver these presentations including Dra. Carmen Gonzalez (expert in OHS) and John Langman of Panama Canal Authority.

To ensure participants learnt from one another, break-out sessions saw MSGs of each country broken up by sector – government, industry and civil society – to share challenges and successes.

Sharing in Malawi

In a different setting, members from our four Africa CoST countries came together in Malawi in November to finalise their national action plans and to take a deep dive into issues commonly found in the region.

Sessions focussed on specific needs and requests of our members, using the CoST Theory of Change to focus on what the success of CoST in the region could look like, and the importance of Monitoring and Evaluation, specifically how to identify and capture outputs, outcomes and impacts to use this information to demonstrate CoST success, scale it up and allow us to replicate it elsewhere.

Speaking after the workshop, Joe Ching’Ani, MSG Chair said: “The regional workshop is an excellent innovation from the CoST International Secretariat. Peer motivation and learning is extremely important and the workshop enabled us to be inspired and encouraged by one another, sharing our successes and challenges. The lessons we learnt have all been captured in our action plan to further the movement for infrastructure transparency in Malawi.”

Useful links

• Summary video of the Latin America workshop
• Feedback video on the Latin America workshop from Heizel Padilla, Country Manager for Guatemala and Gilberto Campos, MSG member of Costa Rica (in Spanish)