Consultation on GPEDC Transparency Indicator Methodology

The IATI Secretariat would like to share with you for consultation the live, working model of our proposal for the assessment of IATI data for Indicator 4 of the monitoring framework of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation.

The IATI Secretariat, supported by the expert advice of Brian Hammond, has been cooperating with the GPEDC Joint Support Team in the preparation of its proposal for Refined Methodology to Measure Transparency of Development Co-operation. We have done so on the basis of agreement at the June IATI Steering Committee meeting in Ottawa in June 2015 that our proposal would require approval by IATI members at their December 2015 Steering Committee meeting.

The easiest way to assess what is a rather complex indicator is to see what it looks like in practice. This is what we are now ready to share with you. The Publishing Statistics section of the IATI dashboard contains a suite of tables that together provide the underlying statistics that have gone into the calculation of the Proposed Indicator Score. These statistics are generated nightly from live data and are calculated for all publishers. It is planned to store these statistics each day so that it will be possible to track progress over time (and we would hope in future to reflect this progress in the indicator itself).

The proposed methodology is broadly similar to the original GPEDC proposal. It is built around equal weighting of the three key Busan commitments: timely, forward-looking and comprehensive data. The headline changes are:

• Scores are provided with and without a coverage ratio applied
• Coverage calculations are more nuanced to allow for a fair and consistent approach to the differences between bilaterals, multilaterals, NGOs and others
• Frequency of publication has the same intent but a different calculation
• Forward looking calculations are based on the number of activities with budgets, rather than the value. All activities are assessed.
• Elements used to assess comprehensiveness are more nuanced and the core fields made mandatory in Version 2.01 are given double weighting.

We hope that in the next three weeks of consultation and fine tuning a consensus can be reached that will allow the Steering Committee to formally approve a methodology during the December meeting that is acceptable to all.

• Comments and discussions regarding the methodology can take place publicly on this site or privately via email to consult@iatistandard.org. We will also be arranging a number of calls for consultation, and these will be announced on the same site.
• If you wish to query the accuracy of the statistics relating to your own data please mail support@iatistandard.org

The Secretariat believes that this suite of statistics is the best tool we have for improving the quality of IATI data, and supportive buy-in to this process by the Steering Committee and the wider community of publishers and users is the best way to ensure a robust and sustainable process.