The IATI Platform

Consultation Note on Technical Architecture and Data Formats  

 

see also consulation paper unlocking the potential of aid information

 

1.0 Introduction

IATI aims to improve the availability and accessibility of aid information by committing donors to agree common standards for publication of information about aid. It is anticipated that this standard will also be used by other providers of aid and resources for poverty reduction: NGOs; foundations; private sector organization etc.  

IATI is not about creating another database on aid activities. It aims to establish common ways of recording and publishing aid information to create a platform that will enable existing databases – and potential new services – to access this information and provide more detailed, timely, and accessible information about aid.

The idea of openness is crucial to creating this platform and achieving transparency.  Information must be openly available with as few restrictions how the information is accessed and used as possible. To this end, we need to design a technical architecture that enables information to be published and accessed in an open way.  The attached consultation paper ‘unlocking the potential of aid information’ covers three aspects of this:

• Making aid information legally open 

• Making aid information technologically open 

• Making aid information easy to find 

This consultation note outlines the high level objectives of the technical workstream of IATI, the type of information the standard will cover and identifies the main requirements the providers and users of aid information have from IATI. 

This note, and the attached ‘unlocking the potential of aid information’ paper, has been written for open consultation purposes and is intended to stimulate debate around: 

1. The objectives of the technical component of IATI 

2. The target users and their requirements 

3. What is required to meet the needs of publishing info 

4.  The technicalities of making aid information available, open and easy to find  

5. Invite advice, comments and feedback on other aspects we should consider 

6. Advice on where existing standards could be used and exemplars of similar initiatives

 

2.0 Potential IATI Information

 

3.0. Information Providers Requirements

3.1. Information providers 

• • Donor HQ 

  • Donor country offices 

  • NGOs

  • Foundations 

  • Private organisations  

  • Infomediaries 

3.2. Provider Requirements for an IATI platform 

 

4.0. Information User Requirements 

4.1. 1st Level Users

The focus of the architecture should be for information to be primarily accessible by experienced users of data who can repackage and repurpose it into more accessible formats. These include:  

• • Infomediaries – Complete aggregators of all aid information (e.g. DAC, AIDA, PLAID) 

  • Infomediaries – Sector/country/donor specific aggregators (e.g. Health portals, Uganda portal)

  • Partner Government aid management systems administrators (e.g. DAD, AMP) 

  • Individual data specialist for one-off analysis (e.g. researchers, journalists)

 

4.2. User Requirements