Quality of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or disclosure policy (Access to Information Policy) The definition used in the Global RTI Rating is that it has to be a law in the strict sense. It must include the right of access to information, this right has to be enforceable and there must be compliant, court and high court appeal possibilities. Decrees are included if they meet the same standards. In addition, the FOIA must be in use for at least the executive part of the government; therefore, FOIAs which are only adopted, approved or still in draft form are not counted.
For multilateral donors, international finance institutions (IFIs) and private foundations, a disclosure or transparency policy is accepted as equivalent to a FOIA. Publish What You Fund completes an assessment of the quality of these disclosure policies based on the overarching approach taken in the Global RTI Rating.

Does this organisation promote access and use of its aid information?

The overall accessibility of aid information through the organisations’ portals, project databases or searchable data sources. These are scored using three criteria: 1) the portal allows free, bulk export of data; 2) it contains detailed disaggregated data; 3) the data is published under an open licence. The same data source is used for all three checks

Does this organisation publish an overarching strategy document?

An overarching strategy document explains the general approach and policies of the organisation towards international development. This should be forward looking.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Institutional strategy paper (document code = B02).

Does this organisation publish an annual report?

Annual reports outline basic (normally aggregate) information about how aid was spent in the previous year, broken down by sector and/or country. This should be backward looking.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Annual report (document code = B01).

Does this organisation publish its aid allocation policy?

Aid allocation policies are the detailed policy documents by which the organisation chooses where to spend its resources, i.e. on particular countries or themes. Relatively general documents or web pages outlining which countries, themes and institutions the agency will fund are accepted, as long as this is forward-looking and not wholly retrospective.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Aid allocation policy (document code = B04).

For organisations such as IFIs and private foundations, which do not have an “aid allocation” policy, equivalent documents are accepted; for example, “investment strategy/policy” or “grant-making policy”.

Does this organisation publish its procurement procedures?

An organisation’s procurement procedures explain the process used to tender and contract (invite bids for) goods and services. This must fully explain the criteria on which decisions are made and could be in a single procurement policy document or attached to each tender. The IATI reference for this indicator is: Procurement policy and procedure (document code = B05).

For IFIs, which are often demand-driven, this is understood as their investment policy. For private foundations, this is their grant making policy.

Does this organisation publish the country strategy paper or memoranda of understanding for this partner country?
For this indicator coun
try strategies and MoU’s are taken together. A country or sector strategy will be accepted. Where one cannot be found, a MoU signed by the donor organisation and recipient country government will be accepted.
A country strategy paper sets out the organisation’s planned approach and activities in the recipient country. For it to be accepted it needs to be a detailed document, rather than just a paragraph on the organisation’s website.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Country strategy paper (document code = B03).

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a document that details the agreement usually between the organisation and recipient government for the provision of aid in the country.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Memorandum of Understanding (document code = B13 or A09).

Does this organisation publish an annual audit of its aid programmes’ accounts?

The organisation’s annual audit of its activities is an official inspection of the accounts and activities of this organisation, typically by an independent body.
Audits up to date with regular audit cycles are accepted, i.e. if the organisation publishes biennial audits, the most recent document within this time frame is accepted.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Institutional audit report (document code = B06).

A formally approved audit of annual accounts is required to score on this indicator. Audits conducted by official government agencies such as State Audit Offices or Controller General Reports are accepted for this indicator.

Does this organisation publish their annual forward planning budget for assistance to different countries and institutions per year for the next three years?

The organisation’s annual forward-planning budget for assistance is the disaggregated budget that the organisation or agency will spend on different countries, programmes and institutions where it will be active, for at least the next three years. The figure could be indicative.
Aggregate budgets of between 2–3 years are scored the same as 1-year forward budgets.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Annual forward planning budgets for recipient countries (recipient-country-budget).

Both country budgets and thematic budgets are accepted for organisations that prioritise their work by countries. Projected figures disaggregated along thematic and sectoral priorities, at a near similar level of detail to total organisation budgets are accepted. IFIs and DFIs sometimes publish “road maps”, which contain this information.

Does this organisation provide a breakdown of the budget of the activity by year and/or quarter?

The budget of the activity is the breakdown of the total financial commitment to the activity into forward-looking annual and quarterly chunks.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Budget or Planned Disbursement.

Is the budget of the activity published?

This is a specific budget detailing what the intended spending is for the different lines of the individual activity. It is often a document published on the organisation’s website.
Budget documents cannot simply be at the country level. If an activity budget is included in a larger country-level document, it is only accepted if the budget for the activity is broken down line by line.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Budget (document code = A05).

For organisations where budget documents might be considered commercially sensitive, documents with redactions of the commercially sensitive pieces of information are accepted. These must include the specific reasons for the redactions and must clarify why the information is commercially sensitive and would cause material and direct harm if published.

Does this organisation provide details of the overall financial commitment made to the activity?

This refers to the financial commitment for the activity as a whole for the lifetime of the activity. This is generally a high-level commitment rather than a detailed breakdown of the activity budget.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Transaction (transaction type = commitment).

Does this organisation provide transaction-level details of individual actual financial disbursements / expenditures for this activity?

Individual actual financial disbursements must be related to individual activities and must be on a per-transaction basis. Each activity is likely to have several transactions.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Transaction (transaction type = disbursement and expenditure).

Does this organisation provide information about the activity that can link the activity to the recipient government’s relevant budget classifications?

The budget classification is a way of linking the activity to the recipient country government’s own budget codes. There are two parts to this indicator.
The first part captures the percentage of the total commitment allocated to or planned for capital expenditure. When publishing in IATI, a number between 0 and 100 should be used, with no percentage sign.
The definition of capital expenditure follows the IMF GFS definition approved by WP Stat in February 2016.
Capital spending is generally defined as physical assets with a useful life of more than one year. But it also includes capital improvements or the rehabilitation of physical assets that enhance or extend the useful life of the asset (as distinct from repair or maintenance, which assures that the asset is functional for its planned life). Capital includes all aspects of design and construction that are required to make the asset operational.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: capital spend.
The second part checks that the activity is not using broad “multisector aid” or “sector not specified” sector codes. It checks that the activity is using one of the detailed “voluntary” CRS purpose codes and not aggregated “parent” codes.

Does this organisation publish the total organisation budget per year for the next three years?

The total organisation budget is the total amount that the organisation will be allocated by the government or its funders per year for the next three years. This is money going to the organisation and can be indicative. Aggregate budgets of between 2–3 years are scored the same as 1-year forward budgets.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Annual forward planning budget (total-budget)

IFIs and DFIs do not have budgets allocated to them as traditional donor agencies do. In many cases, total budgets are established annually, once total financial figures of all investments are taken into account. However, they do have projected total spend figures that they sometimes publish. If published, these projected figures are accepted for this indicator.
Similarly, for private foundations and humanitarian agencies, indicative figures of available funds are accepted.

Does this organisation publish the title of the activity?

The title of the activity is its name. This is preferably the formal name of the activity but does not have to be.
The title needs to be complete with any abbreviations or acronyms explained.

Titles need to contain at least 10 characters.

Does this organisation publish a description of the activity?

The description of the activity is a meaningful descriptive text, longer than the title, explaining what the activity is.
The description of the activity needs to contain a minimum of 80 characters in order to be considered a description rather than just a title.

Does this organisation publish the planned start and end dates?

The planned dates are the dates that the activity is scheduled to start and end on.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Activity date (activity date type = start-planned and end-planned).
Both month and year are required to score on this indicator in recognition of recipient countries needing to be able to map activities to their own financial year rather than the calendar year.

If the activity has started or has finished, the original planned start and end dates must be retained in addition to the actual dates in order to score on this indicator.

Does this organisation publish the actual start and end dates?

(If they are not explicitly stated as actual dates then it is assumed that they are planned dates.)

These are the dates that the activity actually started (and ended on, if the activity has finished). If there is only one set of dates but they are not explicitly stated as planned or actual dates, then it is assumed they are planned dates.

Actual dates are accepted where specific events occurred, e.g. the date the project/programme agreement is signed, a board presentation or an appraisal date.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Activity date (activity date type = start-actual and end-actual).

Does this organisation publish the current status of the aid activity (e.g. in pipeline, implementation, completion, post-completion or cancelled)?

This shows whether the activity is currently under design, being implemented, has finished or has been cancelled.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Activity status.

Are contact details provided for the activity?

This shows who can be contacted in relation to this activity. This does not have to be the contact information for an individual or project manager and could refer to a central contact or information desk. Contacts for either the funding organisation or the implementing organisation are accepted.

This has to be stated alongside the activity or on an obvious “contact us” link alongside the activity.

Does this organisation publish the specific areas or “sectors” of the recipient’s economic or social development that the activity intends to foster, e.g. education, health or infrastructure?

The sectors of the activity explain whether this is, for example, a health or education project. It does not count if it is just mentioned incidentally within the title or description. It needs to be stated separately and explicitly.

If projects are presented by sector on an organisation’s website, it must be clearly stated whether the organisation works only in those sectors that are listed.

Does this organisation publish the sub-national geographic location for this activity?

The sub-national geographic location is information about where the activity is located within a country. This may be a province or city, or it could be geo-coded (whereby the precise longitude and latitude is published). It needs to be stated separately and explicitly.

The IATI reference for this indicator is: Location.
For activities that are relevant at a country or regional level, information on the location where the funds are sent to or where the recipient is located are all accepted for this indicator.

Does this organisation publish which organisation implements the activity?

The implementer of the activity is the organisation that is principally responsible for delivering it.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Implementing organisation (participating-org role = implementing).

Does this organisation publish a unique activity identifier?

The activity identifier is a unique reference ID for the activity, e.g. a project number. It allows an activity to be referred to and searched for by a code, which can be used to retrieve the project from a database or filing system.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: IATI identifier.

Does this organisation publish the “flow type”, i.e. whether the activity is categorised as Official Development Assistance (ODA), Other Official Flows (OOF), private grants, private market flows, non-flows (e.g. GNI) or any other flows?

The flow type shows whether the organisation states that this activity counts as ODA, OOF, climate finance or any other type of flow. This has to be explicitly stated per activity OR once in a country strategy paper OR in a single place on the organisation’s website if there is only one flow type for all activities, e.g. “all aid is ODA”, or “we only provide private grants”.

Does this organisation publish the type of aid given (e.g. budget support, pooled funds, project-type interventions, experts, scholarships, debt relief, or administrative costs)?

The type of aid shows whether the activity is classed as budget support, a project, technical assistance, debt relief, and/or administrative costs. This needs to be explicitly stated per activity OR once in a country strategy paper OR on a clear place on the organisation’s website if there is only one aid type for the whole organisation, e.g. “all aid is project-type interventions”.

Does this organisation publish the type of finance given (e.g. grant, loan, export credit, debt relief)?

The type of finance shows whether the activity is a grant, loan, export credit or debt relief. This needs to be explicitly stated per activity OR once in a country strategy paper OR clearly on the organisation’s website if there is only one finance type for the whole organisation, e.g. “all aid is grants”. Investment type (e.g. loan, equity) can be interpreted as equivalent.

Does this organisation publish whether the aid is tied or not?

The tied aid status shows whether the organisation states that this activity counts as “tied” (procurement is restricted to the donor organisation country) or “untied” (open procurement).

Specifying location requirements in activity documents such as procurement policies or tenders is accepted as publishing tied aid status. The IATI reference for this indicator is: Default tied status.

Are the terms and conditions attached to the activity published?

The terms and conditions of the activity may also be referred to as benchmarks, priors, or involve words such as “subject to...”. They are specific to an individual activity and explain what the recipient must do in order to be eligible for the funds to be released. The conditions should include loan repayment terms if the activity is financed by a loan.

The IATI references for this indicator are: Conditions and/or Conditions document (document code = A04).
For IFIs and DFIs, this includes loan repayment conditions or special terms and conditions.

Contracts:
Is the contract for the activity published?

The individual contract(s) signed with a company, organisation or individual that provides goods and services for the activity. This could be on a procurement section of the organisation’s website, on a separate website or on a central government procurement website.

Contract documents cannot simply be at the country level. If an activity contract is included in a larger country-level document, it is only accepted if the contract mentions the activity specifically and in detail.
Basic information about the activity contract is accepted if it contains three of the following five information items: awardee, amount, overview of services being provided, start/end dates, unique reference to original tender documents.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Contract (document code = A11 or A06).

In cases where organisations consider such information to be commercially sensitive, sections within the contract can be redacted but the reason for the redactions needs to be explicitly stated.

Tenders:
Does this organisation publish all tenders?

Tenders are the individual contracts or proposals that have been put out to invite bids from companies or organisations that want to provide goods and services for an activity. They may be on a separate website, possibly on a central government procurement website. The IATI reference for this indicator is: Tender (document code = A10).

Investment codes or policies for IFIs and DFIs are accepted. For private foundations, calls for grant submissions are accepted. For humanitarian agencies, documents that provide guidance on securing funding are accepted.

Due to the difficulty with manually finding tenders linked to current activities, rather than looking for the specific tender, a review of the organisation’s overall calls for tenders is completed to check it is publishing them consistently and in-line with their procurement policy.

Are the objectives or purposes of the activity published?

The objectives or purposes of the activity are those that the activity intends to achieve.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Objectives / Purpose of activity (document code = A02) or Description (description type = 2). The objectives need to include the target sector/group and expected outcomes.

Is a pre-project impact appraisal published?

Pre-project impact appraisals explain the totality of positive and negative, primary and secondary effects expected to be produced by a development intervention.
Environmental impact assessments as well as impact assessments that explain what objectives the project itself intends to provide are accepted.
The IATI reference for this indicator is: Pre and post-project impact appraisal (document code = A01).
IFIs and DFIs tend only to publish impact appraisals if regulations require them to but given the link they have to the eventual impact and results of the activity all organisations are scored on this indicator.

Humanitarian Implementation Plans (HIPs) and project plans are accepted for humanitarian agencies.

Are evaluation documents or reviews published for all completed activities in this recipient country?

Evaluation and review documents consider what the activity achieved, whether the intended objectives were met, what the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives were and an assessment of the impact, effect and value of the activity. This information may be on a specific evaluation section of the organisation’s website.
If the activity under assessment is not completed but interim evaluation or review documents are available, these will be accepted. The IATI reference for this indicator is: Review of project performance and evaluation (document code = A07).

Are results, outcomes and outputs published for all completed activities in this recipient country?

The results show whether activities achieved their intended outputs in accordance with the stated goals or plans. This information often refers to log frames and results chains and may be within a specific results or evaluation section of the organisation’s website.
The IATI references for this indicator are: Result and/or Results, outcomes and outputs (Document code = A08).