From the about page:
Public access to information is a key component of UNESCO’s commitment to transparency and its accountability vis-à-vis stakeholders. UNESCO recognizes that there is a positive correlation between a high level of transparency through information sharing and public participation in UNESCO-supported activities.
The UNESCO transparency portal has been designed to enable public access to information about the Organization’s activities across sectors, countries, and regions, accompanied by some detail on budgetary and donor information. We see this as a work in progress. Our objective is to enable access to as much quality data about our activities as possible. The portal will be regularly updated and improved.
The data is a bit stale, 2014 and by the site’s admission, data on “10 Category I Institutes operating as separate economic entities” and the “UNESCO Brasilia Office,” will be included “in a later phase….”
The map navigation on the default homepage works quite well and I tested it from focusing on Zimbabwe, lead by everyone’s favorite, Robert Mugabe. If you zoom in and select Zimbabwe on the map, the world map displays with a single icon over Zimbabwe. Hovering over that icon displays the number of projects, budget, so I selected projects and the screen scrolls down to show the five projects.
I then selected: UBRAF: Supporting Comprehensive Education Sector Responses to HIV, Sexual and Reproductive Health in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe and you are presented with the same summary information that was already presented.
Not a great showing of transparency. The United States Congress can do that well, most of the time. Transparency isn’t well served by totals and bulk amounts. Those are more suited to concealment than transparency.
At a minimum, transparency requires disclosure of who the funds were disbursed to (one assume some entity in Zimbabwe) and to who that entity transferred funds, and so on, until we reach consumables or direct services. Along with the identities of every actor along that trail.
I first saw this in The Research Desk: UNESCO, SIPRI, and Searching iTunes by Gary Price.