IATI Datastore

The IATI Datastore provides access to data published by organisations according to the IATI Standard on their resources and results.

The IATI Datastore offers two ways to access IATI data:

1. Datastore API: technical data users can return IATI data from across all data fields (referred to as elements) of the IATI Standard by using the Datastore’s API.
2. Datastore Query Builder: alternatively, the Datastore Query Builder provides a less technical way to build queries across 32 different elements of the IATI Standard. Users can select options through drop-down and freetext filters.

Users of the IATI Datastore will need to understand the basic structure and elements of the IATI Standard. This is to ensure that users are aware of what types of development and humanitarian data they can query and access. Users are provided with this information in the:

• Datastore API Documentation
• Query Builder User Guide (Coming soon)

The IATI Datastore provides access to data published by organisations using version 2 of the IATI Standard. This follows the decision by IATI members to deprecate version 1 of the Standard, which was implemented in July 2019.

To help ensure that users access good-quality data, the Datastore holds no data that does not adhere to the IATI Schema. The IATI Schema provides the exact order and format in which publishers should provide their XML files. More information about the IATI Schema can be found on its own page on the IATI website

Find out how to use the many functions that the Datastore offers by reading the Datastore API Documentation

Here are two examples of data queries to show how the Datastore API works:

Scenario 1: “I would like to retrieve location and budget data for National NGOs currently working on development or humanitarian projects in the Philippines.”

In this scenario, the user would like to filter the data by organisation type (national NGOs) and recipient country (the Philippines), and would like to structure the output by returning location and budget fields. This can be achieved using the following URL:

https://iatidatastore.iatistandard.org/api/activities/?reporting_org_type=22&recipient_country=PH&fields=locations,budgets&format=json

• reporting_org_type=22 specifies that only activities with Organisation Type code 22 (National NGO) are returned.
• recipient_country=PH specifies that only activities including Country Code PH (The Philippines) are returned.
• fields=locations,budgets specifies that location and budget data is returned for the resulting activities.

Scenario 2: “I would like to know which organisations worked on teacher training projects in Uganda and Kenya that have begun since 2012.”

In this scenario, the user would like to filter the data by sector (teacher training), recipient country (Uganda and Kenya), start date (2012 onward) and would like to structure the output by returning participating organisations. This can be achieved using the following URL:

• sector=11130 specifies that only activities with Sector Code 11130 (Teacher Training) are returned.
• recipient_country=KE,UG specifies that only activities with Recipient Country codes KE & UG (Kenya & Uganda) are returned.
• actual_start_date_gte=2012-01-01 specifies that only activities with an actual start date on or after 01/01/2012 are returned.
• fields=participating_organisations specifies that participating organisations data is returned for the resulting activities.

The IATI Datastore allows you to convert original IATI data files, which are published in the format XML, into two additional formats: CSV and JSON. All data in the Datastore is filtered and output based on IATI activities. An exception to this is when converting the data into CSV format; this also allows you to return data based on budgets or transactions.

So, you can output:

• XML – The Datastore returns the original activity XML data file as published. This can be enhanced with metadata, specifying the version of the IATI Standard to which individual activities were published, as well as details about the query result.
• CSV – The Datastore can convert the published XML data into CSV format. This format can then be used to analyse information using spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc or Google Sheets. You can select the rows in a CSV file to represent individual activities, budgets or transactions depending on the output format that you select. Each of these may be expanded by sector or country so that percentage splits can be analysed.
• JSON – The Datastore will convert the published XML to JSON format. All original published information is presented, as well as the metadata that is included in the XML output.

The IATI Datastore Query Builder was launched for testing at the end of 2019 and is currently in a pre-launch phase and will be officially launched in 2020. We do not recommend that users migrate any tools which currently utilise the old Datastore and its query builder until the new Datastore has been officially launched.

The date of the official launch of the IATI Datastore Query Builder will be announced shortly and the old Datastore CSV Query Builder will be available to use for six months after this date. For technical details about how to use the existing Query Builder while it is still being maintained, please visit the Github repository. If you have any questions about the existing Query Builder, please email the IATI Helpdesk at [email protected].

The IATI Datastore has been developed by Zimmerman and the IATI Technical Team. If you discover a bug or have an idea for an enhancement of the product, please raise these on the issue tracker on the Github repository.

If you require support with building a query (either directly via the API, or using the Query Builder), please contact the IATI technical team.