Relative value of earlier transactions

Community Zone
#1

is there any consensus on the relative value of earlier transactions?

I assume 3 years (2014-2016) is definitely valuable, but how useful is 5 years or 10 years or 20 years?

is there an algorithmic sliding scale of relative value?

is the relative value dependent on enough other aid flow data?

is there a relative value of use cases re 1 year, 5 year and 20 year datasets?

I have access to GBP 250+ million of unreported public aid flow and as yet unquantified unreported private aid flow

graeme jones
founder
openmindedly

#2

Thanks for the question @jonesiom and it is currently always the decision of the publisher as to whether ‘older’ transaction or activity information is published to IATI. I am aware of at least two publishers who publish information that is pre 1980. However, the main issue with publishing ‘legacy’ data is that it is often not ‘complete’ in that not all the required (as at V2.01 and later) IATI data elements can be provided. However, it would be interesting to hear from data users as to how this information could or is being used?

#3

it does not appear to be allowed but…

…i do think it would be useful for the IATI registry to at least be able to code the total budget per donor per year from legacy information sources (in particular where some information required by v2.01 and later is not available) such as paper annual reports to support donor trend analysis, forward estimated aid flow budgets, sense check other projects on open budgets / open procurement, etc.

#4

Donors can include their historical(but ideally future) total budgets in the organisation file.

Also the coverage statistics of the Transparency Indicator publishing statistics require and use an external independently sourced figure for the amount of funding available for an organisation to ‘spend’.