The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) makes information
about aid spending easier to access, use and understand.
The IATI Registry is an index of data published on international development
activities. The registry itself stores no data, but provides a searchable
index of metadata, feeds, and links to datasets hosted by donor agencies,
development organisations and partner countries.
Organisations publish IATI data onto their own websites. The IATI registry
provides a convenient single point of access for users to find and stay
current with these different sources of information.
What is IATI?
At the core of aid transparency is knowing the details of who is doing what,
where. IATI is a multi-stakeholder effort to make this information available.
As part of the IATI process, donors, civil society organisations and recipient
governments have agreed on what to publish, common definitions for sharing
information and an electronic XML data standard.
These steps will increase the effectiveness of aid by making it easier to
administer, reducing the risk of diversion or corruption and improving
coordination between stakeholders.
You can find more information at http://aidtransparency.net and to read more
about how aid transparency will affect development, there a good article on
the devex blog.
What is the IATI standard?
IATI consists of two main standards: an ‘organisation standard’, designed
for publishing forward-looking budget data; and an ‘activity standard’ for
publishing details of past, current and planned aid activities or projects.
Additionally, there are various code lists that provide common definitions
for specifying values such as sector descriptions, geographical information
and types of financial transaction.
The standards and code lists, as well as XML schemas and user guides are
available at http://iatistandard.org.