Topic-specific guidance
Use this section to understand how to publish and interpret data on specific topics according to the IATI Standard.
These guidance pages were created through a consultation process and the IATI Secretariat is working to update the older ones. The ‘last updated date’ will tell you when the latest change was made. If you have any feedback please contact us.
Activity participants
In IATI data, each organisation publishes from its own perspective and includes details of organisations it is working with.
Geography - countries and regions
Each activity in IATI should specify the country (e.g. China) in which the activity is taking place, or the places that will benefit from the activity.
Country budget alignment
This guidance outlines how IATI activities can be structured to enable country budget and aid alignment.
Self-defined vocabularies
For several elements in the IATI activity and organisation standards, organisations can provide a code from their own codelist. For example, organisations can choose a 5-digit DAC sector code as well as a sector code they use internally.
Understanding results data
Detailed examples of how IATI results data can be published and interpreted.
Activity budgets
Activity budgets hold the total funding expected to be spent as part of an activity. It is recommended that each activity with planned spending that is published to IATI includes one or more budgets.
Activity thematic focus (sectors)
Each activity published to IATI must provide details of the thematic focus of the activity. The themes must be explained in code, and then further details can be provided in a written description.
Budgets (overview)
There are two types of budget that every organisation publishing to IATI should provide: the total budget for an organisation, and a budget for each individual activity.
COVID-19 related data
Following a `consultation with IATI’s community this guidance has been updated to provide recommendations on how to publish data on COVID-19 using the IATI Standard.
Related documents
Further information about an organisation or activity can be provided by using the **document-link** element.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Guidance on how to use the IATI Standard for publishing and using data on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
CRS and FSS
Publishing CRS and FSS data is only relevant to organisations that actively report to CRS++ and/or the OECD DAC Forward Spending Survey
Additional activity classifications
Using the IATI Standard, publishers can assign different classifications to their data. These help users to understand what type of financing it is and how it can be used.
Activity dates and status
Each activity published to IATI should specify the time period in which the activity took place. Both the planned and actual dates of an activity can be provided.
Financial transactions
Each activity in IATI should contain a record of how the activity is being financed and how the finance is being used. Each incoming and outgoing fund is published as a transaction.
Humanitarian reporting
Please read detailed publishing guidance on how to use the humanitarian elements and attributes.
Organisation budgets and spend
An organisation budget is a total planned budget for an organisation for a given time period, and these can be broken down into different programmes or areas of work.
Related data
Within the IATI activity standard it is possible to express relations between ``iati-activity`` records across different publishers / ``reporting-org``.
Results information
Results describe the benefit or intended benefits of an activity; these can be broken down into types: outputs, outcomes and impacts.
Geography - sub-national locations
The sub-national location/s of an activity can be described in a number of ways. The primary way is through geographic coordinates.
Geography - sub-national locations (all elements)
This table lists all elements that can be included in the location element.
Activity geography
Each activity published to IATI must specify where the activity is taking place, or the place that will benefit from the activity. This can include the countries or regions.
Conditions
IATI asks publishers to declare any conditions or specific terms that are attached to their activities.
IATI traceability guidance
The inclusion of specific data within IATI activities allows users to trace the flow of funds from the original donors down to the intended beneficiaries.