Creating IATI activity identifiers

Each of your activities must have an IATI identifier, this is a globally unique way of referring to your activity.

You create them by adding a 'string' (a series of letters and / or numbers) to your IATI Org ID. Your IATI Org ID is the approved identifier for your organisation. You will have received this when registering for a publisher account on the IATI Registry.

Please note, once you have published an activity its IATI identifier must not change.

Example

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has the IATI Org ID: XM-DAC-4114

They form their IATI identifier by noting whether an activity is an output or a programme, followed by the activity code. This ensures that each activity has a unique IATI identifier. For example:

1. Consolidating peace in Ghana XM-DAC-41114-PROJECT-00065055
2. Accelerator Lab - Ghana XM-DAC-41114-PROJECT-00120467
3. Ghana Integrated SDG Platform XM-DAC-41114-OUTPUT-00115803

You get to choose what 'string' you use to create your IATI identifiers.

Rules and guidance

It is important to correctly form your IATI identifiers. Data use tools may only accept activities if their IATI identifier matches the IATI Org ID for the publishing organisation. They are also what other IATI publishers will use to link their activities to yours. And you will need to use theirs.

To allow these connections to take place and verify that you are the owner of the activity you must make sure:

• Each IATI identifier you publish is unique. This covers all of your activities even if they are in separate files.
• Each IATI identifier should not start or end with whitespace.
• Only use numbers, letters and dashes to form your IATI Identifiers.
• Once you have published an activity its IATI identifier must not change.

In rare cases you may need to change your IATI Org ID. When this happens you must not change your IATI identifiers, rather you must note the change in your IATI Org ID using the <other-identifier> element. See How to update your organisation details for more information. You will need to contact the IATI Secretariat to make the change.