Welcome to the first post on my blog. I intend to write periodically about issues related to developing countries. Today I want to comment briefly on the way in which international donors, including multilateral institutions like the World Bank and individual country donor institutions such as U.S. AID, burden developing country government ministries with paperwork. For example, health ministries may receive loans or grants to fight HIV/AIDS from, among others, the World Health Organization, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the U.S. AID (through PEPFAR). Remarkably (or perhaps not), each institution has its own reporting requirements on its own forms. Thus, overburdened health ministry officials find themselves spending inordinate amounts of time filling out duplicative paperwork rather than implementing the substantive programs the money pays for. If all funding agencies could agree on a set of standardized forms, this could reduce the burden substantially. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?