AidData attempts to capture the universe of development finance, increase the value of data by providing more descriptive information about development activities, provide data in an accessible format, and strengthen efforts to improve donor and recipient strategic planning and coordination. The PLAID Project at William and Mary -- the predecessor to AidData -- benefits from significant support given by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, Richard and Judy Finch, and the National Science Foundation. Additionally, our work would not be possible without the institutional support of the College of William and Mary, Brigham Young University, and the Development Gateway Foundation.

The AidData Vision

The AidData team is building an easy-to-use, comprehensive, and timely resource describing the universe of development finance project-by-project, including all grants and loans committed by all major bilateral and multilateral aid donors. Current data on development finance lacks timeliness, depth, and comprehensiveness. Better data will help increase aid targeting and coordination, and it will enable better measurement and evaluation of aid effectiveness. AidData is currently developing a publicly-accessible interface that will enable researchers, field workers, and policy makers interested in development finance to access detailed project level data in order to increase transparency, accountability, and effectiveness.

The AidData Database

The core of the AidData project, the PLAID database, currently encompasses multilateral and bilateral donor projects spanning the years 1945-2009. It contains information from traditional aid sources such as the OECD's Creditor Reporting System (CRS) as well as donors not captured by the CRS and activities that do not fit the OECD definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA). PLAID augments existing data by publishing more complete project descriptions and more detailed aid project purpose codes. In particular, PLAID is dedicated to collecting project-level data from all multilateral donors and non-DAC bilateral donors (NDBs) to provide a more complete picture of development finance flows and activities. This resource will allow donor organizations, citizens in donor countries, researchers, NGOs, recipient governments, and, ultimately, the beneficiaries on the ground in developing countries to gain a more detailed understanding of past and present trends in aid.

The Future of AidData

The PLAID team at the College of William and Mary and Brigham Young University recently joined forces with Development Gateway to form what is now AidData, a development finance portal that combines the breadth and depth of the PLAID database with the timeliness and accessibility of the Accessible Information on Development Activities (AiDA) project. Over the next two years, AidData will expand to include previously unpublished data from both traditional and new donors. We also intend to classify and publish data on private aid flows as it becomes available. We will develop a variety of data visualization, networking, and mapping tools to allow a variety of different types of users to use this information in their work. AidData increases accessibility to this information for policymakers, NGOs, foundations, partner country officials, researchers, journalists and the public.

Who is AidData?

The AidData team includes scholars in economics, political science, sociology, and computer science, development practitioners, and NGO researchers based out of Development Gateway in Washington, DC, the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, and Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. More information is available here.

In Partnership With:

Photo credit: The background of the header image, taken by Randy OHC, is used under the Creative Commons 2.0 License. The caption accompanying the original image reads, "View from the top of a rocky hill near the town of Bolotwa, South Africa, April 11, 2007."