IATI State of the Data Review 2025

The IATI Secretariat has published a report presenting the results of six months of focused analysis on the publication and quality of IATI data.

The IATI State of the Data Review 2025, published today, consolidates findings from three thematic deep dives carried out between July and November 2025, each of which explored a specific dimension of IATI data and its real-world usefulness. These were:

• Document Links - revealing nearly half a million documents that add useful context to development and humanitarian activities, including budgets, results, objectives, activity webpages, and conditions.

• Organisation references - discovering data on 17,000 organisations across the development and humanitarian delivery chain, strengthening visibility and network insights.

• Timeliness - examining publishing frequency and update practices across nearly 900,000 activities. The findings showed that while a relatively small number of organisations publish frequently, they account for the majority of reported activities.

Across the three themes, the 2025 series engaged over 600 registered participants in online dialogues, with participation from both technical and non-technical stakeholders. It combined open analysis and community dialogue, demonstrating the current usefulness of IATI data while identifying areas for further improvement and standard clarification.

Recommendations

The State of the Data Review 2025 outlines practical steps to enhance the publication and utilisation of IATI data, while also highlighting opportunities for longer-term strengthening of the IATI data ecosystem.

At the practical level, for example, the Secretariat has identified three immediate actions that IATI publishers can take to improve document accessibility and usability:

• Link directly to documents, rather than to intermediate web pages
• Update links to HTTPS where possible
• Ensure links remain publicly accessible

These actions support machine-readability, AI-enabled use cases and meaningful transparency. The Review also included draft IATI Standard update proposals and areas where clearer guidance could improve data quality and consistency across the IATI ecosystem.

Beyond these immediate next steps, the Review highlights more systemic challenges that cannot be addressed through publisher behaviour and Standard modification alone. In particular, it surfaces the limitations of the current approach to document storage and accessibility, and points to the potential value of more coordinated infrastructure solutions. Addressing these wider challenges will require community dialogue, mandate clarity and dedicated investment.

Looking ahead

As IATI rolls out its Strategic Plan 2026–2030, insights from the State of the Data series are shaping a coordinated programme of work to strengthen infrastructure, data quality and usability across the initiative.

This includes:

• State of the Data 2026: Building on lessons from 2025, the State of the Data approach is evolving. In 2026, each series will begin with focused preliminary briefings, designed to stimulate early discussion and use case development. This will be followed up with opportunities for interested stakeholders in the IATI community to shape priorities and follow-up actions through, for example, surveys and smaller, focused consultation meetings. The first series began in January, with a focus on subnational Location Data.
• The establishment of a new Standard Oversight Committee: strengthening oversight of the IATI Standard, guiding proposed updates and supporting structured community engagement in its evolution. Members and stakeholders are invited to review the Terms of Reference and submit an Expression of Interest by 6 March 2026.
• The rollout of the “Reimagining Data Quality – A User-Centric Approach” initiative to shift the focus from technical compliance alone to user-informed data quality. This work will inform new diagnostics and enhancements to the IATI Dashboard and related services in 2026. Read more in the newspost: Reimagining Data Quality – A User-Centric Approach.

Together, these strands of work reflect a more structured, evidence-based and user-centred approach to strengthening the long-term usefulness and integrity of IATI data.

For any questions about supporting IATI’s work, please contact the IATI Secretariat.