Aid donors have begun to publish implementation schedules, showing how they will implement the common standard agreed at Busan. This includes the entirety of the IATI standard. See our previous blog for more details.

Implementation schedules are being posted on the OECD-DAC website here, as they are available, and must be submitted by the end of 2012. We will provide detailed analysis once they are all received, but here are some initial conclusions from the schedules already published.

Some general observations:

• So far, four donors who are not currently part of IATI have stated their intention to join or publish to the IATI standard (Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovak Republic). In addition, Italy has said some data could be published to IATI by 2015.
• Three IATI signatories who have yet to publish to the standard have committed to implementing by 2013 or 2014 (Belgium, Norway and UNICEF).
• Two IATI signatories will bring their publication in line with IATI best practice, i.e. at least quarterly and in IATI XML (New Zealand and Spain).
• Three IATI signatories plan to improve their IATI publication, either in frequency or extending to government departments beyond the main aid agency (Australia, Netherlands and UK).
• There continues to be resistance from a few small EU member states to publishing current, open data on their aid (Austria, Finland, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia).

Donor-specific highlights:

• Australia – extending IATI publication to other government agencies by April 2013.
• Austria – no improvements scheduled to their data by 2015, in CRS or IATI. This shows a consistent disregard for the information needs of partner countries.
• Belgium – planning first publication to IATI by June 2014 (on quarterly basis). Belgium only signed IATI in November 2012; it’s great news to see implementation plans so quickly.
• Czech Republic – will join IATI by 2015.
• Finland – currently publishing in IATI format but only annually, converted from CRS. No commitment specified to publishing on a quarterly basis (as required by IATI standard). This is very disappointing news from an aid effectiveness leader.
• Greece – will not publish to IATI by 2015.
• Italy – No plans for IATI, but “could eventually publish XML format for IATI registry only for DGCS’ data.”
• Korea – No specified plans for implementing IATI (the schedule appears to be incomplete).
• Luxembourg – will begin publishing to IATI in 2013, though only on an annual basis. This is a positive step for a generous donor and supporter of clear delineating between ODA and climate finance.
• Netherlands – plans to improve frequency of IATI data from quarterly to monthly publication & produce documents and forward-looking planning information on activity level in IATI in 2013/14.
• New Zealand – plans to improve frequency of IATI data from six-monthly to quarterly. New Zealand’s existing publication is not yet in the IATI format.
• Norway – planning first publication to IATI in 2013 (on quarterly basis). We welcome this original IATI signatory’s implementation of the standard.
• Poland – planning to publish to IATI by 2015. It is particularly good to see this large EU Member State that is not a member of the OECD-DAC taking these steps towards aid transparency.
• Portugal – will not publish to IATI by 2015.
• Slovak Republic – planning to publish to IATI by 2015.
• Slovenia – no plans for IATI.
• Spain – moving from annual to quarterly publication from 2014 – though forward looking information will not be published until the “financial situation improves and stabilizes”.
• UK – piloting added value elements of IATI, including geocoding & unique identifiers (to enable traceability down the delivery chain) and the crucial IATI budget identifier.
• UNICEF – planning first publication to IATI by April 2013, having joined IATI in February 2012.