By Toby McIntosh
The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), a huge database on international aid, has missed its goals, is facing insolvency and needs a major reset, according to a tough evaluation by two independent consultants.
The report comes as the board of the global, multi-stakeholder initiative is conducting both financial and strategic reviews.
IATI, formed in 2008, is designed to increase the transparency and accountability of development and humanitarian financing, collecting and disseminating aid information. The 25 gigabit database contains data from over 1,500 organizations on more than 97,000 humanitarian activities.
Whether IATI met the goals of its 2000-2025 strategic plan was the central question for consultants Gail M. Hurley, an independent senior advisor on development finance, and Maria Borisova, Managing Director at Impactready Ltd. Their 72-page “Final Report (Second Draft)” report was obtained by EYE. (No reply yet on an inquiry to IATI on an official publication plan.)
On the positive side, the two evaluators reported that IATI “has made tangible progress in improving the quality and accessibility of aid data.” They praised IATI for developing “technical tools” that “have helped enhance the utility and reliability of data.” They point out, “Notably, 19 partner country governments were systematically using IATI data by 2023, exceeding the target set under the Strategic Plan.”
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Targets Missed, Data Under-Utilized
“However, persistent challenges remain,” the report continues.
“A significant portion of IATI data still suffers from issues related to quality and completeness,” it says.
“As of 2023, only 13.8 percent of publishers met the recommended quarterly publication frequency —far below the 70 percent target,” the researchers found.
“Furthermore, the IATI Standard is seen by many stakeholders as overly complex and ill-suited to rising financing modalities such as climate finance and blended finance,” according to the report. “Despite some increases in data use, IATI data is still under-utilised relative to potential and IATI is not widely-known.”
Although IATI “continues to be a highly relevant actor in the global development landscape, with its open data standard offering timely and granular data as a complement to other platforms, … the Strategic Plan lacked a compelling long-term vision,” wrote the consultants.
“The Theory of Change underpinning the strategy failed to reflect critical shifts in the external environment, particularly the erosion of global political commitment to aid transparency and aid effectiveness,” according to the report, which continues, “IATI’s low visibility and limited engagement in global policy forums also constrained its strategic influence during much of the Strategic Plan period.”
By 2023, only 47 percent of output targets in the strategic plan had been achieved, the report says.
Financing ‘At Risk’
“Institutional efficiency has seen both progress and setbacks,” summarized the consultants, pointing to the hiring of an executive director in 2024 and a new technical partner. But the changes were costly, they wrote.
“IATI’s financial and institutional sustainability is now at risk,” the authors said, warning, “Unless significant changes are made, the initiative could face insolvency by 2026.”
Membership fees, paid by countries, “have not increased since 2016 and have been eroded by inflation, while reserves have declined,” the report says. The IATI budget for 2025 will be about $4.2 million.
Recommendations Made
The report suggests a number of steps for IATI to take:
- IATI’s financial model “should be redesigned to ensure sustainability.”
- “Governance arrangements should be strengthened to ensure strategic focus and political engagement, including more transparent Board appointments, the engagement of Board members with a high public profile, and a clearer delineation of roles.”
- IATI “should position itself more visibly as a leader in the global transparency ecosystem by developing strategic partnerships and actively participating in advocacy through global forums ….”
- “Modernizing and simplifying the IATI Standard will also be essential, particularly to accommodate climate-related and private finance data.”
- Prioritizing “interoperability with other systems.”
- “Deeper engagement” at country level.
In a “Lessons Learned” paragraph, the report states:
Several overarching lessons emerge from this evaluation. Strategic plans must aim for transformation, not just incremental improvement. Quality data and meaningful data use must be pursued simultaneously and supported through outreach, incentives, and capacity building. Ownership of IATI must be clearly defined and actively nurtured across all member groups. Above all, visibility and value creation are fundamental to sustainability — demonstrating impact and maintaining relevance must be at the heart of IATI’s future strategy.
Text of report: Evaluation_Report_of_IATI_Strategic_Plan_2020_2025
EYE in March wrote about an IATI Board decision not to continue support for a symbiotic project that rates the quality of the information from institutions who contribute to the database. (See March 14, 2025 EYE article.)
