Guidance

Publishing international development data

Updated 9 August 2022

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/open-standard-for-international-development-data

Use the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard v2.02 to publish data on international development and humanitarian activities in government.

1. Summary of the standard’s use for government

A wide range of organisations already use the IATI standard to share open, accessible and comparable information on international development activities such as humanitarian aid.

The government chooses standards using the open standards approval process and the Open Standards Board has final approval. Read more about the process for the international Aid Transparency Initiative standard.

2. How this standard meets user needs

The standard is compatible with a wide range of information used by many publishers such as:

  • national donors
  • multilateral agencies
  • all non-profit organisations (NGOs)
  • philanthropic organisations
  • development finance institutions
  • private sector organisations

Users, such as developing countries, need access to the latest information about aid and development. They also need to track how funds are moved and used. The IATI standard makes the data easier to share and reuse.

Data published in the IATI standard is free to share.

The standard lets you share your organisation’s:

The standard is compatible with a range of third party open source and proprietary tools.

The main benefit of the IATI standard is that multiple organisations can use data. For example:

  • developing country governments can use data in government systems
  • donors can use data to track how humanitarian aid flows through their delivery networks
  • researchers can use data to test the effectiveness of aid
  • journalists can use data to hold donors to account

Users can search for datasets on the IATI Registry. There are also third-party tools and services available to make the datasets easier to use.

3. How to use the standard

The IATI website includes information on:

IATI is scalable so you can use:

You can register with IATI to get technical and data support.

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