International Grantmaking and the IATI Standard

Presenter: Owen Barder, Director, aidinfo

Attendees at this session will be briefed on an information standard aimed to improve accountability and the effectiveness of international grants. The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), a collaboration of donors, multilateral agencies, and foundations, is developing a standard for electronic publication of detailed information about international grants. The standard will be agreed on during 2010. The aim is to make all international grant information publicly available online in an open format, to improve transparency and accountability of grants, and especially to ensure that the intended beneficiaries have access to information about grants aid in their community. The session will look at how this initiative relates to other initiatives to make information more transparent and accessible (such as Grantsfire and the work of the Foundation Center); whether the emergence of a standardized way to define and report aid information could benefit foundations and their grantees; and how greater transparency will lead to more effective use of foundation funding. This session also will consider whether and how foundations might get involved in helping to shape the aid information standard so that it can meet the needs of grantmakers and grantees.

Document: 

International Grantmaking and the IATI Standard.OwenBarder.pdf