A consultation exercise has been launched to explore donor attitudes towards CoST.

Since its launch in 2012, CoST has grown to twelve countries with several others expressing an interest in joining. However, despite declarations of support from the G20, G8 and many multilateral and bilateral donors, most have not backed-up their words with financial commitments

The funding challenge was highlighted last year by the Guardian when it reported that “CoST’s only source of income is a grant of $1.5m from the World Bank over three years, ending in December 2014. Some of CoST’s national programmes have found separate funding, but this is limited.”

Despite a call from industry leaders for the G20 to support the programme, the financial position of CoST continues to be a significant challenge.

CoST Executive Director Petter Matthews said: “there appears to be a disparity between the demand from new countries wishing to join CoST on the one hand, and the willingness of donors to invest the resources that are needed to meet that demand on the other. The consultation will explore the reasons for this and the results will be used to refine our fundraising strategy”.

The CoST International Secretariat will shortly be inviting selected stakeholders to assist with the consultation. Please contact the International Secretariat if you would like to take part.