Transparency gets graphic

Earlier this month I wrote about the improvements of data transparency of AusAID and teased out the potential of the newly available data found in the Green Book by providing a few interactive graphs. Using a separate (online and free) visualisation tool I have mapped the same data onto a world map. Click the image below to take a look.

map

As I stated in my previous blog post, these sorts of visualisations really only scratch the surface of the data that AusAID has already made public. Even more exciting is the prospect of donor agencies using and developing similar tools as a medium to present more of their own data, particularly down to the project level.

As usual DFID is one step ahead of the curb and has recently released a beta version of their ‘Development Tracker’ database. Aid data geeks can quickly lose hours exploring its content. Owen Barder blogs about two particularly important aspects (traceability and the use of open source IATI standardised data) of the new database here. With developments like these 2013 is certainly shaping up to be a breakthrough year for aid open data and transparency initiatives!

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Jonathan Pryke

Jonathan Pryke worked at the Development Policy Centre from 2011, and left in mid-2015 to join the Lowy Institute, where he is now Director of the Pacific Islands Program. He has a Master of Public Policy/Master of Diplomacy from Crawford School of Public Policy and the College of Diplomacy, ANU.

2 Comments

  • Wow. DfID’s ‘Development Tracker’ is very impressive. That level of transparency (project documents, business cases, logical frameworks) for each project being publicly available is great to see. And relatively easy to navigate. Hope this spurs others to do the same. Wonder if USAID is close behind… haha…

    • I completely agree Joel. I also particularly like that all of the data inputted into it is in the IATI standardised format, meaning that you could technically use the same software platform to show all of the data that has been published to IATI over the years from the 150+ organisations that have published (some not as rigorously as others) so far. Whether DFID wants to tread on that many toes is another question!

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