International Aid Transparency Initiative
Consultation on Part 1 of the IATI standard:
What will be published
This consultation is open to a wide group of stakeholders: IATI signatories, countries that have endorsed IATI, all members of the IATI Technical Advisory Group (TAG), all participants in the IATI Conference, partner country and CSO consultations on IATI, and all members of the DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness. The consultation lasts from 9 October to 30 October. All comments should be sent to Hannah Glanville (), and copied to Romilly Greenhill (), Brian Hammond () and Danila Boneva () Participants at the IATI Conference on 20th and 21st October in The Hague will also have an opportunity to comment on the papers.
Background
IATI is a new, multi-stakeholder initiative which aims to increase the availability and accessibility of information about aid.[1] This will help to ensure that aid is used in the most effective ways in fighting poverty. Launched at the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in September 2008, IATI now has 17 donor signatories[2] and a growing number of endorsements from developing countries[3].
IATI aims to add value by agreeing standards for sharing information so that it will be useful to all stakeholders, particularly those in developing countries. The standards agreed will build on existing standards, including those used by the OECD-DAC’s Creditor Reporting System. It will also make that information simpler and easier to understand, to compare, and to use.
There are four parts to the IATI standards: (1) agreement on what will be published, (2) common definitions for sharing information, (3) a common electronic data format, and (4) a code of conduct.
This document invites comments on draft texts for Part 1 – what will be published. It should be noted that further work is still to be done on the precise data definitions, data format, exceptions and thresholds before further consultation in 2010. So comments are not sought on these at this stage.
Questions
1. Please indicate any information items in Appendix B that you think should NOT be in the IATI standard, stating why. Conversely please indicate any items that you think should be in the standard, again stating why.
2. Please indicate if you think any of the items should be in a later or earlier phase than shown.
3. Please provide any comments on the initial thoughts on how the information will be published.
4. Please provide any other general comments on this document.
Part 1(draft) – What, how and when information will be published - Summary
There are three aspects to Part 1 of the IATI standard:
- What information will be included in the standard?
- How will this information be published?
- When will this information be published?
This summary takes into account the outcome of recent partner country and CSO consultations, fact-finding missions to donor and partner countries and discussions within the IATI Steering Committee and the Technical Advisory Group (TAG). The full paper with background and more detail on each of the items is at www.aidtransparency.net/progress.
What information will be published?
Proposals on the list of categories of information to be included in the IATI standard are in the detailed table in Appendix B. Appendix A shows the availability of this information in terms of a typical project lifecycle.
In summary, the Consultation Paper proposes six categories of information. The first two (Part A) comprise high level and aid activity documentation and budget data, while the following four (Part B) cover detailed aid activity level data. Where current DAC/Creditor Reporting System (CRS) standards exist, as identified in Appendix B, these will obviously be the starting point for the data. The proposed categories are as follows:
01 – Country or Donor HQ level documentation and budget
In broad terms, the first category of information covers high-level, strategic documents published by donors and their annual forward-planning documents, plus a couple of associated documents produced by partner country governments (links to the latter being important as a means of ensuring national ownership and of assessing aid given in the form of budget support). The 14 specific codes listed under this heading cover:
aid policies and procedures, including procurement; aid/aid effectiveness assessments; regional, country, sectoral and institutional strategies; information on public participation in decision-making and evaluation; future funding opportunities; annual forward planning budget totals for the agency, plus at institutional and country levels; partner country government strategic plans and publications on results.
02 – Aid activity level documentation
The second category of information is essentially concerned with documentation on individual projects, and has 12 individual codes covering all aspects of the project cycle including:
concept notes, initial impact assessments, project design, MoU, tenders, contracts, loan details, tranche release details, monitoring and completion reports, evaluations and project websites.
03 – Identification data (such as country, sector, geographic location, description, type of flow)
The third category focuses on commonly used identification data concerning where, how, and for what purpose aid is spent. It is sub-divided into 18 codes covering:
funding country/agency/additional channels of delivery; recipient country and agency; bilateral or multilateral; flow and finance type; aid activity, title, purpose and description; recipient budget identifier; sector; project dates, status and contacts; geographic location; tied aid status and other policy markers.
04 – Financial data (including project costs, budgets, commitments, disbursements and loan details)
The fourth category includes all relevant financial data, with the following eight codes:
total project cost; annual project budgets; total and annual commitments by individual donors; planned and actual disbursements; loan and interest repayments.
05 – Results data (indicators on output, outcome and results)
The fifth category covers results data and is split into output and outcome indicators, and results indicators.
06 - Other data
The final category covers other information such as Paris Declaration Indicators; conditions; and publication date of IATI information.
How will this information be published?
While detailed work on developing a common data format and agreeing how donors will publish their IATI-compliant data is not scheduled to take place until next year, it may be helpful to share our emerging thinking on this issue and invite feedback on some of the ideas outlined below.
IATI aims to make information accessible to many different stakeholders, particularly in those in partner countries. IATI will not result in a huge new database as we believe a one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to be effective, whilst at the same time, IATI does seek to avoid multiple reporting. To that end, IATI will seek to establish a common way of recording and publishing aid information to create a platform that enables a variety of intermediaries to use and present the information in different ways, including mixing it with other kinds of information, to develop new and existing information services (e.g. partner country aid management systems, a Uganda health portal, a budget tracking service, a website for parliamentarians that monitors new projects).
IATI will make it possible for third party organisations to develop and maintain a one-stop-shop using this information, but it will be open to many organisations to determine how they want to present the information to meet their users’ needs.
This means raw data and documents must be accessible in a standard format, rather than be locked away in many different bespoke databases. There is further technical work to be done on this but one possibility is that the publication of information will be decentralised and require the publishers to register the web location in an IATI registry. The registry will be a website that provides access to the location of all the information. In fact, the location of the information is irrelevant, as long as it is recorded in the registry.
For example,
· Donors might want to collect all their information together and publish it centrally in the common format via their website
· Some might decide country offices are best placed to publish through their own websites
· Alternatively, they might chose to publish information about current and past expenditure centrally as it is in their systems, but country offices would publish forward looking information
· Some donors may prefer to use an independent hosting solution provided by a third party
· Partner countries may also wish to publish some information centrally, e.g. their strategic plans and results reports
The specific technicalities about how this will work are yet to be defined – e.g. registering information could be part of existing processes such as emailing data – but the principles are becoming clear:
· Publish raw data and information
· Adherence to common formats
· Openly licensed to enable information to be used by third parties
· A central registry which provides a point of access to all the data.
When will this information be published?
The intention is for IATI implementation to be phased. It is proposed that:
· Phase 1 is all current CRS information and existing documentation;
· Phase 2 is a later update, where information exists, but is generally not yet published;
· Phase 3 is for the remaining information that will require more substantial amendments to systems/practices.
The precise timing of each phase has yet to be agreed, but the tentative date for completing implementation of phase 1 is the end of 2010. While Appendix B helpfully suggests which categories of information should potentially fall within each phase, these are preliminary proposals, and feedback is now sought through this consultation.
Appendix A: Lifecycle of a Typical Project
Appendix B: IATI information
IATI Information is categorised in the following six types:
01 – Donor aggregate or country level information
02 – Aid flow specific documents
03 – Identification data
04 – Financial data
05 – Results data
06 – Other data
The table lists the information proposed for donors to publish under IATI and provides metadata on the type, timetable, source, exceptions, phase, thresholds and systems where this information is currently available. Appendix C provides a brief description of each of the information items.
The table provides an initial indication of the timetable, exceptions, phasing and thresholds for each information/ data element. Views on the timetable and phasing are sought in this round of consultation; more work is required in the TAG on the precise data definitions, data format, exceptions and thresholds before further consultation in 2010.
The columns show:
· The possible timetable for publication:
o +1mth = one month after a document is issued;
o M/Q = monthly or quarterly after the project information becomes available/financial transaction takes place.
· Ownership of the information (both documents and data) may be held by the donor, the partner country, or both (by the donor and institution—multilateral or NGO—in the case of forward budgets for institutions).
· Items for which exceptions to publication will be possible are identified. The rules for exceptions are still to be worked out.
· Introduction of the IATI standard on publication of information will be phased, timing to be decided:
o Phase 1 is all current CRS information and existing documentation;
o Phase 2 is a later update, where information exists, but is generally not yet published;
o Phase 3 is for the remaining information that will require more substantial amendments to systems/practices.
· Thresholds for some aid flows where there is a cut-off for the level of detail of documentation and/or recording of detailed financial data that must be published. Donors will be able to publish below the threshold if they wish. The details are still to be discussed and worked out.
· The remaining columns show where the information is currently available:
o Donor websites – could be at HQ or country offices, main or multiple agencies;
o DAC Creditor Reporting System
o AIMS—country Aid Information Management Systems
o OCHA – Financial Tracking System of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
o By the partner Government, providing it is reported to them
o DMFAS – UNCTAD’s Debt Management and Financial Analysis System
o AidData – newly merged database from Development Gateway (AiDA – accessible information on development activities) and PLAID (project level aid)
For those that want more detail, there is a spreadsheet that links the IATI information matrix to the project lifecycle for different types of aid and shows the different codes and values currently in use on which the standard would draw. This detail will help in the subsequent discussions of definitions and data format. The matrix can be found at www.aidtransparency.net/progress.
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IATI Information Part A: High level Information and Documentation
IATI Info Type code / IATI Info code / Info Name / Data Type / Time- table for publ'n / Ownership of info / Except-ions to Publ'n / Expect-ed Phase / Thres- hold / Donor Web Page / DAC CRS / AIMS / OCHA (HA only) / Govt if on Budget01 Country or Donor Headquarters Level Documentation and Budget
01 / 01 / Aid policies and procedures / Document / +1mth / donor / 1 / ü
01 / 02 / Procurement procedures / Document / +1mth / donor / 1 / ü
01 / 03 / Assessments of aid and aid effectiveness / Document / +1mth / donor/both / ? / 3 / ü
01 / 04 / Regional, country, sectoral, institutional strategies / Document / +1mth / donor / 1 / ü / ü
01 / 05 / Information on opportunities for public participation in decision making and evaluation / Document / +1mth / donor/both / 2
01 / 06 / Future funding opportunities / Document / +1mth / donor / 2 / ü
01 / 07 / Donor Agency Annual budget as submitted to Parliament or board / Document / +1mth / donor / 1 / ü
01 / 08 / Annual forward planning budget data for agency / Data / +1mth / donor / 3
01 / 09 / Annual forward planning budget document for funded institutions / Document / +1mth / donor/institution / 2
01 / 10 / Annual forward planning budget data for funded institutions / Data / +1mth / donor/institution / 3
01 / 11 / Annual forward planning budget document of country offices / Document / +1mth / donor / 2
01 / 12 / Annual forward planning budget data of country offices / Data / +1mth / donor / 3
01 / 13 / Freedom of Information Act / Document / +1mth / donor / 1
01 / 14 / Country Government Strategic Plan / Document / +1mth / country / 1 / ü
01 / 15 / Country Government Publication on Results / Document / +1mth / country / 1 / ü
02 Aid Activity Level Documentation
02 / 01 / Concept notes / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 1 / Y / ü
02 / 02 / Pre-project impact appraisals / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 3 / Y
02 / 03 / Project design docs / logframes / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 3 / Y
02 / 04 / MoU / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 3 / Y / ü
02 / 05 / Tenders / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 1 / Y / ü / ü
02 / 06 / Contracts awarded for project / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 2 / Y / ü
02 / 07 / Loan Repayment Terms and Documentation / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 1 / ü
02 / 08 / Tranche Release Documentation / Document / +1mth / donor / 2 / Y
02 / 09 / Mid-term monitoring report / Document / +1mth / donor/both / X / 3 / Y / ü
02 / 10 / Project completion report / Document / +1mth / donor/both / 3 / Y
02 / 11 / Post-Project evaluations / Document / +1mth / donor/both / 2 / Y
02 / 12 / Project website / Website / +1mth / Donor / 3 / Y
IATI Information Part B: Aid Activity Level Data