ROME, 23 November 2017 (FAO): A new FAO online data tool – AIDmonitor – launched today will improve understanding of Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding flows in food and agriculture-related sectors – including thematic areas as diverse as the environment, education and women’s equality.
AIDmonitor is the first tool to paint a complete picture of ODA funding flows for all development sectors, and the only tool to analyse funding flows with an FAO lens – focused on agriculture, food security, nutrition, and rural development activities.
The tool extracts raw data from the most detailed source of information on ODA flows — the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Creditor Reporting System — and aggregates the data to reflect the over 50 FAO-related subsectors, which range from agriculture to fishery or rural development.
AIDmonitor is project-based and this guarantees a high granularity of information.
“FAO recognized that there was a gap in data analysis and this is how AIDmonitor was born. In today’s rapidly changing aid environment and increasing interest in value for money, understanding development aid flows is vital to plan and build partnerships. AIDmonitor helps decision-makers opt for informed choices,” said Gustavo Gonzalez, FAO Director of the Resource Mobilization Division.
“The tool can improve understanding of funding flows, identify the underfunded sectors and the largest gaps and priorities. This is an essential step to monitor progress. It will also bring more transparency, and it can lead to greater synergies to build more strategic partnerships, improve coordination and increase effectiveness of development assistance,” added Gonzalez.
AIDmonitor is designed to provide extensive support to those working in the development community and FAO-related sectors to support evidence-based decision-making, resource partner dialogue and negotiation, policy making, monitoring and accountability.
Users can retrieve data dating back to 2000 and run in-depth, customized analysis by sector or subsector, by donor(s), by country/countries, and by funding channels. They can also analyse synergies between donors’ funding flows and countries’ development priorities.
AIDmonitor can also provide a good insight into how funding is being disbursed and which bodies – UN agencies, recipient government agencies, local NGOs or others – carry out the work at country or regional level.
For each country, the tool incorporates World Bank’s development indicators, the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) priorities and FAO’s Country Programming Frameworks.
This tool benefited from consultations and peer review sessions, gathering valuable inputs and recommendations from major development organizations and research institutions.
