The UK Department for International Development (DfID) has announced a global initiative to make overseas aid work better in helping poor people and to make it easier for them and their governments to track how aid is spent. The plan is backed by the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the European Commission. Announcing the initiative during the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, the UK's International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, explained that the plan will require donor countries to provide full and detailed information of all the financial assistance provided to each country; details of individual projects and their aims; and reliable information on future aid flows so that developing countries can plan ahead. He noted that while the UK is good at tracking aid from its taxpayers, only half of all global flows of financial assistance show up on the budgets of poor countries, increasing the scope for the money to be siphoned off.