Allocating official resources towards the SDGs and leaving no one behind: A new metric, Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD), reveals financing for development shortcomings
TOSSD is “a new statistical framework for monitoring official resources and private finance mobilized by official interventions in support of sustainable development of developing countries.” In a dramatically changing financing landscape, TOSSD has the potential to deliver greater transparency in the financing of sustainable development, including both concessional and non-concessional resources from a broad scope of providers, north and south, including multilateral organizations. It measures both cross-border flows received by developing countries (Pillar One) and International Public Goods (IPGs) of benefit to developing countries (Pillar Two).
Examining more than $300 billion in reported flows between 2019 and 2021 from 106 providers, ActionAid Italy, Oxfam International, and AidWatch Canada have identified trends and challenges in TOSSD through a series of five Briefing Papers and a Summary of Key Issues.
The International Forum on TOSSD (IFT) is the governance body for TOSSD. It aims to maintain and improve the TOSSD statistical standard, collect and analyse TOSSD data, and promote TOSSD and the use of TOSSD data within governments and internationally. Membership of the Forum is open to all countries, territories and intergovernmental organisations.
2023/24 Briefing Papers on TOSSD Data
Financing the SDGs: What can we learn from the new statistical metric, Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD)? A Summary of TOSSD Data, Challenges and Issues for the International Forum on TOSSD, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, March 2024
Briefing Paper One: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: An overview of TOSSD data, 2019 to 2021, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, July 2023
Briefing Paper Two: Achieving Agenda 2030: Trends in the Allocation of TOSSD Resources towards leaving no one behind, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, September 2023
Briefing Paper Three: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: Support for International Public Goods (Pillar Two): Issues and challenges, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, November 2023
Briefing Paper Four: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: Trends in TOSSD Provider Profiles, 2019 to 2021, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, November 2023
Briefing Paper Five: Trends in Official Support for Agenda 2030: A Recipient Perspective – What’s different in TOSSD for Recipient Countries, Brian Tomlinson, AidWatch Canada, with ActionAid Italy and Oxfam International, December 2023
Previous TOSSD Research Papers
Brian Tomlinson, June 2022. TOSSD Data for 2020: An overview of key trends in the data in support of sustainable development. A report prepared for ActionAid International Italia ONLUS. This report provides a detailed analysis of TOSSD data for 2022, with comparisons with 2019 data.
Brian Tomlinson, February 2022. Analyzing European Union Institutions’ Flows for Total Offical Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD): Allocations, additionality, and relevance to developing country partners. Actionaid Italy, Oxfam International and AidWatch Canada. As the EU Institutions are one of the largest reporters to TOSSD, a better understanding of its submissions can offer key insights on the general trends and issues arising from the first reporting round.
Brian Tomlinson, March 2021. Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD): Game changer or mirage?, Oxfam International, Action Aid and AidWatch Canada. Total Official Support for Sustainable Development, or TOSSD is a new statistical metric that is meant to capture a broad range of global flows of public money in support of sustainable development. Metrics matter. This discussion paper sheds light on how TOSSD works in practice as well as on its ambitions, shortcomings and the contending political perspectives on this new metric. The paper emphasizes that TOSSD could significantly shape the future of development finance.