CNN, one of the biggest news channels in the world, has used IATI data to report how aid from Western governments, which support LGBTQ rights, made its way into churches in Ghana which actively advocate anti-LGBTQ laws.

The video and article are available on CNN’s website. Click for the article.

This use of IATI data is an important example of IATI as an open data standard helping to make the development sector more transparent and contributing to a more effective aid sector. CNN writes the following about their sources:

‘We used two sources for aid data. Donors report their spending annually to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). This data is inflation-adjusted and accessible via what is called the Creditor Reporting System (CRS).

Most aid donors and some aid recipients and intermediary organizations also publish details of aid spending in the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) data standard. This data can be downloaded using the online IATI Country Development Finance Data tool, while more details about funding can be found on the d-portal website, an open source platform to explore IATI data.’

CNN