IATI's response to the COVID-19 pandemic

  • March 24, 2020

We hope all members of the IATI community are well and your organisations are managing the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic as best they can in these difficult circumstances. This post provides an update on IATI services, publishing guidance and how to stay connected with IATI’s community.

Publishing data on COVID-19 to IATI

Currently the IATI Secretariat advises that organisations publish data on their activities responding to COVID-19 by:

  • Title - adding “COVID-19” in the title of reported activities.
  • Humanitarian flag - using the humanitarian attribute for humanitarian activities and/ or transactions related to COVID-19:
  • Timely data - publishing information as quickly as possible.

The IATI Secretariat plans to release detailed publishing guidance on COVID-19 that aligns with other major partners' reporting on the pandemic. We have already reached out to the World Health Organisation, UN Central Emergency Response Fund, UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service and the Humanitarian Data Exchange to collaborate on producing the guidance, specifically in terms of alignment in the use of the humanitarian scope element in IATI.

Please look out for the new guidance that will be released shortly. This article will subsequently be updated with a link to the launch of the guidance; we are also happy to offer an online meeting to help publishers once the new guidance is ready.

All IATI staff are working remotely

All IATI Secretariat staff from UNDP, UNOPS and Development Initiatives have moved to home-working. As we already operate as a virtual Secretariat, our established systems mean that we can continue to provide all of our normal services remotely. To contact the IATI Secretariat email: [email protected].

IATI Helpdesk delivering normal service

IATI's Technical Team is now operating remotely and will continue to provide support through IATI's Helpdesk. The Team will continue to answer queries on data publication, use and other technical matters during normal working hours. To contact the Helpdesk, email [email protected]. If you have any specific questions on publishing activities related to COVID-19, please do get in touch.

Virtual meetings

Like many organisations, we are also carefully reviewing our options on holding upcoming meetings virtually and, in consultation with the Board, will communicate any changes with participants.

Stay connected with IATI’s community online

Finally we encourage you to collaborate with IATI’s community of publishers, users, technical specialists and data experts online.

As ever, do get in contact if you have any questions: General information [email protected] or IATI Helpdesk [email protected].