Driven by data: report back from the IATI learning event

On the 22nd of March, 80 people joined for the annual IATI learning event, organized by D4D in cooperation with Partos/ the Spindle, in Bleyenberg, the Hague. In the audience this time also some international guests, representing platforms and networks of organisations that are also to publish to IATI.

The focus was mostly on the use of data, and examples were presented of how organisations can make use of the data for their own internal reflection, management decisions and communication.
During the event, the freshly elected co-chair of the IATI CSO working group, Leo Stolk of Oxfam Novib, presented his view on developments around the IATI standard. Through a skype connection with The Netherlands Embassy in Pakistan, Marie-Louise Wijne (MFA, DSO-MO) showcased the Ministry’s learning process with result reporting and how they intend to build the results of the Dialogue and Dissent program, aggregating results data from a diverse spectrum. The new version of the IATI standard 2.03 was presented to the more experienced publishers, while the concept of IATI was briefly explained for those who are just about to start publishing.  
Four inspirational speeches were also given, starting with the data transformation of ICCO into a more data driven organisation by director Wim Hart, followed by a session on data innovation from Kenny Meesters, who is involved in the Humtechlab. Stephanie Schlipper from Mannion Daniels explained how the UK is working on traceability in the aid chain now, Agnes Marsan from Simavi showed their data gathering applications, which are also used for management steering and Thea Schepers presented the dashboard that Plan has created based on the combined IATI publications of the “Yes I do” alliance. Two practical examples were also given to show where it is possible to find IATI data presented in a “data-usable manner”. Links can be found here for the IATI Datastore and OIPA.
After the presentations, participants could choose which work sessions they would like to join to dig deeper into the matter. All in all, it resulted into very lively and dynamic discussions and positive feedback on people who gained new insights in IATI and data use.
Data4Development and Partos/ The Spindle are very happy with the enthusiastic participation of all who joined the event!