decades after the World Bank and IMF came into force, we have the technology to ensure that countries can hold their governments accountable

an old black and white photograph taken in 1944 at the Bretton Woods conference that led to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that men in gray suits meeting to design the future multilateral system. Fast forward 67 years to a community a few miles west of the capital of Tanzania, where local residents are using GPS devices to gather public information on local services - schools, clinics, utilities and garbage dumps - what information can be loaded into a data card online, ultimately supporting their government.

that ministers of government, international aid organizations, NGOs, foundations, organizations, and others meet in Busan, South Korea, the fourth High Level Forum on efficiency help to discuss the future of aid coordination, one thing is clear: the future development does not lie with men dressed in black behind closed doors. Not only developing countries that are providing two-thirds of global growth, which makes the old paradigm with a north-south on his head, but it is clear that effective development requires the participation not only of governments but beneficiaries local communities and citizens more generally. And with 21 century technology, we now have the means to get there.

was the use of the Internet - an interactive platform called checkmyschool.org - which saw an elementary school principal in the province of Leyte in the Philippines get a lot of construction work to continue in school, damaged by natural disasters. The director went online and filed a complaint with the delay, for fear of corrupt practices were responsible for the acquisition. His complaint prompted a quick response. The work was completed and 800 students received a new roof of the school.

was through SMS messages from mobile phones than citizens of the province affected by the conflict in South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo were able to vote for the priorities of the local budget, to break a vicious circle of mistrust and service providers of poor quality. Therefore, for the first time in decades, local budgets have begun to include investments in local communities that provide basic services to the poor, and in response, people began to pay taxes.

These movements of transparency - giving citizens access to information -. Century 21 Da which means the saying "knowledge is power"

And the power of knowledge can be further increased: transparency breeds accountability and a focus on results - for taxpayers believe that aid funds are used appropriately, for a citizen feeling that the government did the right thing. Emphasis was placed on transparency and donors. UK Coalition of civil society organizations working in the government, aid effectiveness and access to information, Publish What You Fund, has released its index of transparency of aid by international donors and Note 58 bilateral rankings of the World Bank more transparent. Some donors do well, all donors can do better

: But before becoming too self-congratulory, remember the general message.

Maybe we can take some heart from another study on the quality of aid released this month, as a boost to Busan. The Center for Global Development and the Brookings Institution found the back of the World Bank for the poor, the International Development Association, the United Kingdom and Ireland scored in the top 10. And according to the study, due to a greater commitment to transparency, the area in which donors are most improvement was in transparency and learning.

developing countries are also seeing the value of opening up their data. Kenya became the first country this year in Africa to launch a national initiative to open databases. In just three weeks. It is now possible for anyone to obtain census data or control of budgetary expenditures at the county level or find a health center nearby. Moldova did the same thing. Other nations such as Mongolia, Nigeria and Rwanda wants to do the same thing.