IATI's Executive Director, Yemesrach Workie, alongside representatives from Governments of Australia, Germany, Liberia, the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), and World Bank and Global Alliance for Food Security (GAFS).
On February 11, IATI hosted a successful event convening over 100 stakeholders from government, international organisations, and the development finance community to join discussions on how transparent, open data enhances financing for development (FfD) outcomes, in a full-capacity UN Conference Room.
The roundtable was co-organised with the Governments of Australia, Germany, Liberia, the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), and World Bank and Global Alliance for Food Security (GAFS). The event reinforced the role data can play beyond reporting – as a powerful communications tool, and an enabler of smarter decision-making, stronger accountability, and more effective development cooperation.
The event reinforced the role data can play beyond reporting – as a powerful communications tool, and an enabler of smarter decision-making, stronger accountability, and more effective development cooperation.
The co-hosts…
endorsed IATI and called for the explicit reference to IATI’s open data standard as a key mechanism for making aid flows traceable and accountable, and a commitment to transparency for development cooperation in the FfD4 outcome document, building on decades of strengthening commitments across the international community.
recognised real-world integration of IATI data into national budgeting and planning provides a working model for other countries.
recognised that full end-to-end financial and results tracking from donor to contracting is demonstrably possible by strengthening both IATI and OCP data and interoperability.
called for ongoing engagement and strengthening of financial tracking and tagging methodologies through the IATI standard.
called for communications and advocacy partnerships to tell stories of impact through data.
called for great data and statistical capacity building to countries.
The side event also gave a preview of the Liberia Project Dashboard, which was demonstrated by Sarah McGill Mulbah, Assistant Minister of Budget, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Government of Liberia.
Summary of key discussion points:
Liberia demonstrated how it has fully integrated IATI data into its national budget system, leveraging open data to improve fiscal planning, project management, and donor coordination, on an ongoing basis, now for eight of its largest development partners. By using IATI’s timely, relevant, granular, project-level data, Liberia ensures better oversight and alignment of aid.
Australia explained how integration of open data standards into the FfD4 process is an opportunity to strengthen global accountability and national attention to data-driven development. Australia has taken steps to strengthen transparency, including publishing to IATI and launching AusDev Portal to make Australian development data more open and trackable.
Germany emphasised that accurate data interpretation and use is essential for rebuilding trust in global development cooperation, and that strong frameworks are needed to protect data integrity, ensuring that transparency leads to accountability and action. Germany publishes its development cooperation to the IATI Standard and makes this data public via it’s online transparency portal: transparenzportal.bund.
IATI called for explicit inclusion of transparency commitments in the FfD4 outcome document and stronger global accountability mechanisms to ensure financial commitments translate into impact. The IATI Standard has matured, with growing uses and value through network effects.
Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) urged policymakers to embed stronger open data commitments in the FfD4 outcome document to ensure that aid, procurement, and development finance are transparent and accountable, and enable end-to-end financial tracking.
Watch the side-event:
Sucessful engagement
The day after the side event, Australia made a significant call during the plenary session of the Third Preparatory Committee for the inclusion of the IATI Standard in the FfD4 outcome document. Dr. Tony Swan, Director of Development Economics Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, emphasized the need for stronger evidence of development impact by leveraging development finance and results data published to IATI.
What’s next
IATI will continue engaging in the FfD4 process, advocating for stronger transparency commitments in the final outcome document at the Seville Conference (30 June - 3 July 2025).
If your government, organisation, or delegation has submitted comments or proposals to the FfD4 co-facilitators or UN-DESA supporting transparency and data publishing, or is planning to, please let us know! We want to help amplify these messages and coordinate advocacy efforts.
Stay updated on key developments and future actions for FfD4.
The Global Network Against Food Crises used IATI data to analyse food and nutrition security financing flows in their 2024 Financing Flows and Food Crises Report.
As the global aid landscape grows more complex, the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) has released its latest report examining how open, timely data is transforming global development and humanitarian aid.
