News

Nov. 17, 2011: Today AidData launches its new website, which represents the program's transition out of "beta" phase and the beginning of a new vision for AidData’s mission and scope. What began as a database on foreign aid activities has evolved into a collaborative program focused on piloting new innovations related to aid information, creating insightful data visualizations, and working with a range of stakeholders to increase aid transparency. Through partnerships with the OECD, World Bank Institute, Esri, and others, AidData is working to push the envelope in terms of the availability and relevance of aid information, in support of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).

What's new in AidData 2.0? Maps that present geo-enabled aid information created through the geocoding process are featured on the website and further integration of interactive maps into the platform is planned. There is also a variety of other ongoing initiatives to find new ways to collect, disseminate, and leverage aid information. These include testing ideas for crowdsourcing feedback from communities where aid-funded projects are being implemented. Recently, AidData, the World Bank Institute, and the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law of the University of Texas hosted an event called Putting Aid Data to Work: Using better information to get better results, where many of these ideas were discussed.

Users can now download data through AidData Raw, a new repository for development finance datasets, to create their own maps and visualizations. If you would like to share work you have done using these data, the AidData blog accepts proposals for guest posts--please email us at info@aiddata.org. In addition, you can browse research using the AidData database and tools by AidData-affiliated scholars and others. Other resources for researchers include a compilation of replication datasets used in publications on aid allocation and effectiveness for scholars to use to test their hypotheses.

Coming soon: Interactive dashboards will bring aid information to life by highlighting trends and key players, and surrounding activity-level data with related resources and links. Initially, dashboards will be available for several sectors, including Agriculture, Education, the Environment, and Health. Additional dashboards are under development.

Keep up with the latest AidData program news, innovations, resources, and tools by signing up for the monthly newsletter.

Open data for international development

AidData increases aid transparency by providing tools, visualizations, services, and data related to development finance. more...

News