Using Open.undp.org

Open.undp.org is the central point of access to detailed information about UNDP’s more than 5,000 development projects and 8,000 outputs in 170+ countries and territories worldwide. It comprises data and information for active development projects and those that were financially closed after 2011.

The presentation of information in open.undp.org do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of UNDP, concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

All data in open.undp.org can be used free of charge in compliance with the Creative Commons’ Attribution 3.0 IGO License (CC-BY 3.0 IGO). For a list of the terminology and definitions used in open.undp.org, consult the Glossary.

Using the data

Download: You can download data in IATI XML, CSV, and JSON formats, as a whole database or for individual countries, regions, or sectors.

Widgets: You can download a snippet of code to embed in your website and to visually depict data subsets (look for the “Embed” button). A widget contains data presented as tables, maps or charts. As new data becomes available, it will be automatically displayed.

Applications: You can use the data for building applications that help you to access, visualize, analyze and share information on UNDP development interventions and their results.

Access data through a web API: For developers, data is available as an API (JSON). A Web API is a way for other web sites to access data directly. It is the interface of choice for creating custom data visualizations, live combinations with other data sources, and more.

UNDP’s commitment to improving transparency

Publishing detailed information about UNDP’s global activities strengthens the organization’s ability to achieve positive development results through better accountability, efficient resource management, and sustainable partnerships.

As a signatory of IATI and member of its secretariat, UNDP disclosed its first dataset on 2010 development projects and expenditures in compliance with IATI principles. Publish What You Fund’s Aid Transparency Index recognized this accomplishment, along with our corporate efforts toward enhancing transparency by ranking UNDP in the top 10 among 58 and 72 donors/organizations respectively in both 2011 and 2012.

UNDP also leads outreach efforts with partner countries and other UN agencies to champion the new transparency standard. This has helped to make IATI standard even more relevant for national development planning, public financial management, mutual accountability, and other processes at the country level. UNDP has been actively involved in pilot initiatives in several developing countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, testing the benefits of IATI to support:

• Aid Information Management Systems through automated data exchange
• South-South cooperation information sharing
• Alignment of aid information with budget and medium-term expenditure frameworks

In 2013, UNDP started to publish quarterly project-level information, including sub-national geolocation and additional activity-level financial attributes. UNDP reviewed its Information Disclosure Policy and updated it according to the highest international standards.

Notes on UNDP work

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories, UNDP offers global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

The operational activities of the UN development system and UNDP are characterized by their universality of presence, impartiality, multi-sectoral approach, and non-conditional grant-based nature.

Open.undp.org

Welcome to open.undp.org, which presents detailed information on the UNDP’s 4,000+ development projects in some 170 countries and territories worldwide. Browse the summaries, click a filter on the right, or search through the full list of projects. It represents UNDP’s commitment to publish comprehensive, quality and timely information about aid flows and results. Open.undp.org is a component of our implementation of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) to which UNDP is a signatory. IATI is a voluntary multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at making information about aid spending easier to access, understand and use.

Open.undp.org enables users to find project information categorized broadly by location, funding source, and focus areas, and drill down for comprehensive project data, including budget, expenditure, completion status, implementing organization, contribution to gender equality, project documents, and more. Open.undp.org features current project site images and is integrated with UNDP country office external web sites to enhance knowledge sharing.

Working in the open: contributing to better development cooperation and results

By making comprehensive up-to-date information about more than 6,000 projects available to the public, UNDP is contributing to improving the effectiveness and value of development cooperation by increasing:

Accountability: Advocacy groups, academics, journalists, civil society organizations, development practitioners, and beneficiaries are now able to better track how development cooperation is being used for and the results it is achieving.

Efficiency: Improved access to data helps policymakers, bilateral agencies, and multilateral organizations manage development finance more effectively and efficiently to achieve greater impact on sustainable human development.

Trust: Accountability, performance effectiveness, and transparency are for creating development partnerships that are based on trust.

UNDP is interested in hearing users’ ideas and comments about open.undp.org.

Get involved

Public participation and collaboration are key to the success of open.undp.org. Here are some ways you can get involved:

• Build and share applications, conduct analysis, and perform research
• Suggest datasets you would like to see, and rate and comment on current datasets
• Display data on your website and share open.undp.org among your networks
• Provide feedback, comments, and recommendations on open.undp.org

UNDP is interested in hearing your ideas and comments about open.undp.org.

Glossary

Focus areas: Group of associated activities based on changing conditions and demands for programme support from developing countries, e.g. reducing human poverty, fostering democratic governance, managing energy and environment for sustainable development, supporting crisis prevention and recovery, responding to HIV/AIDS). The number in brackets indicates how many outputs are linked to each focus area.

Country Offices: The focal point for UNDP activities in a country responsible for serving requests to support programme activity, which includes implementing agreements in collaboration with the relevant national institutions international partner agencies and other development partners.

Funding Sources: Project funds are financial resources mobilized from various sources to be used for project activities as defined in the project work plan. UNDP resources and funding mechanisms are comprised of two main categories: “Regular Resources” (co-mingled and un-earmarked, including voluntary contributions, contributions from other governmental, intergovernmental or non-governmental sources, and related interest and miscellaneous revenue.); and “Other Resources” (for specific programme purposes.) 

Projects: Management structure around a set of development support activities aimed at bringing about clearly specified outputs within a defined time-period and a defined budget.

Budget: A spending plan based on a results and resources framework thatreflects input costs required for achievingspecified outputs.

Expenditure: Costs directly incurred on behalf of a project, either through direct support for nationally implemented projects or direct implementation; includes cost of goods delivered, services rendered, total employee benefits, and depreciation of fixed assets. 

Project start date: Date on which either the implementation of the project activity begins or the date on which the project participant has committed to expenditures related to the implementation of the project activity.

Project end date: Date on which a project is operationally and financially closed.

Aid classification: The OECD’s Creditor Reporting System (CRS) is maintained by its Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The CRS is the authoritative source of annual activity-level statistical information on Official Development Assistance (ODA), other official flows (OOF), and some private aid flows from the 24 OECD DAC members. It also contains information on aid activities of many major multilateral organizations and several other non-DAC donors that is collected directly from these organizations. The number in brackets indicates how many outputs are linked to each classification.

Implementing organization: Name of institution responsible for managing the project, achieving project outputs, and managing project resources.

Operating Unit: All country, regional, or headquarters offices that have individual budgets and reporting responsibilities.

Gender marker: The Gender Marker measures the degree to which UNDP outputs and projects address gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, or reduce discrimination and inequalities based on sex. The number in brackets indicates how many outputs are linked to each gender marker.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is IATI?
A. The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) is a voluntary multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at boosting development cooperation transparency through public disclosure of detailed and timely information on volume, development results, and information to help countries manage their resources effectively with a view to achieving better development results. Signatories to IATI include donors, partner countries, and civil society organizations (CSOs) who support the transparency commitments described in the IATI Accra Statement. For more information about IATI, please visit the IATI website.

Q. How does transparency improve aid effectiveness?
A. A common global standard for the publication of development cooperation data will make information about development spending easier to access, understand, and use.  Groups involved in development programmes are calling for greater accountability and for more government openness, and are growing intolerant of obstacles that limit their access to meaningful information. Among them are CSOs and citizens in developing countries who want to know how their governments are delivering services; finance ministries in developing countries who want to improve budget planning; anti-corruption campaigners who argue that transparency will reduce fraud and misappropriation; and taxpayers who have a stake in knowing how their money is spent. By tracking development spending and the results it is achieving, we get greater accountability and better operational efficiency.

Q. Which and how many donors contribute to UNDP’s development efforts?
A. Worldwide, UNDP development projects are sourced by some thousand funders, among them: businesses, civil society organizations, foundations, governments, government agencies, international financial institutions, and individuals.

Q. What should I do if I can’t find a project?
A. Project information is available in one of the six UN official languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese). In a few cases, project information is available in a language other than one of the six UN official languages. We suggest you search by country or perform an advanced search in the local language. Contact UNDP Transparency Team if you need further help.

Q. Who is involved in IATI?
A. Full membership is open to any entity that commits to the aims and objectives of the initiative. IATI also involves CSOs, IFIs, businesses, parliamentarians and experts. As of November 2013, 195 donors, partner countries, multilateral organizations, international funds and CSOs had signed up to the IATI. Among them are the Asian Development Bank, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Norway, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, the European Commission, the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the GAVI Alliance, GEF, the UK, and a growing number of UN agencies, including UNDP. View list of publishers.

Q. Who governs IATI?
A. IATI is governed by a multi-stakeholder steering committee including representatives from bilateral, multilateral and non-traditional donors, experts in aid information and statistics, partner countries and civil society organizations. As of August 2013, the initiative has a multi-stakeholder Secretariat comprising UNDP, UNOPS, the governments of Sweden and Ghana, and Development Initiatives.

Q. What actions have UNDP taken toward adoption of IATI standards?
A. UNDP started publishing project information based on IATI standard in 2011. In 2012, UNDP has scaled-up implementation of IATI by publishing an expanded dataset with detailed information on over 6,000 development projects in 177 countries and territories worldwide, and leading outreach efforts to 34 developing countries and UN agencies, along with corporate efforts toward enhancing transparency. As a signatory of IATI and co-host of its Secretariat, in 2013 UNDP consolidated and built on these achievements by publishing quarterly project-level information, including sub-national geolocation and additional activity-level financial attributes; and reviewing and updating its Information Disclosure Policy. UNDP will strive to fulfill its commitment to transparency above and beyond international standards while ensuring IATI relevance to both donors and recipients of development cooperation.

Q. What will be the impact for users of UNDP information?
A. IATI requires a standard format for publication to make it easy to access and share through an internationally-agreed-upon, open, common XML format. This enables more people to access, compare, and combine it with other data sources to meet individual needs. The IATI registry will index the data, which will act as a central reference point for all information published by IATI signatories.

Q. Why do some projects have negative expenditure?
A. Some projects show negative numbers for expenditures. In these instances, the projects are likely being managed at a different level or are undergoing accounting reconciliation. For instance, in some cases financial management is at the Fund level (such as for Trust Funds) rather than the Project level so adjustments made within a Fund can lead to negative expenditures being displayed.

Q. Why do some projects have end dates in the past?
A. Projects with end dates in the past are operationally-closed projects that were financially closed in 2011 as part of the adoption of the Institute for International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). Any transactions shown are accounting entries made to facilitate this change or to reconcile accounts. All UNDP units have done their best to indicate that these are closed projects, noting the end date for activities and their present status.  As the IPSAS process takes full effect in the organization, closed projects will no longer appear.

Q. What types of projects are available in open.undp.org?
A. Open.undp.org comprises data and information for active development projects and those that were financially closed in 2011. A small number of projects in open.undp.org are not development projects per se; instead, they support development activities (e.g. staff salaries and operational costs, strengthening the capacity of the Resident Coordinator´s Office, etc). Country Offices have done their best to indicate these types of projects in the project title and/or description field. Project documents are not available in these cases.

Q. How are open.undp.org projects geolocated?
A. Project locations are based on the IATI standard and are classified by ‘location type’ and ‘precision of project site’. Location type refers to the category of the location: ADM1 (region or province), ADM2 (district and major cities), RES (reserves, rivers, sea), PCL (political capital) or PPLA/PPLA2/PPLC/PPL (city, municipality, town, village). Precision of project site refers to the level of accuracy of where the project is actually implemented: country, province, region, district, city, town, village, district, or street. Subnational visualization has been expanded to show where projects are being implemented across the country. Visualization includes clustering by location and filtering by coordinate accuracy. Activities of a project are mapped and included in the overall country view.

Q. What is the difference between International and National resources?

National resources fund mostly domestic projects. Country office such as Argentina is listed as a national resource recipient because it receives funding from the national government or domestic organizations.

Q. Are there any restrictions or charges for using data in open.undp.org?
A. All data in open.undp.org can be used free of charge and has CC-by license (see Creative Commons Attribution License)

Q. Can I access this website using any browser?
A. Yes, open.undp.org is accessible by all web browsers equivalent to Internet Explorer 7 and above. The web site has been optimized for Google Chrome.

Q. Who should I contact if I have a question about the projects and the tools in open.undp.org?
A. For information about individual projects and IATI publishing tools used in this website, contact UNDP Transparency Team

Contact

The UNDP Transparency Team is led by the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy in collaboration with the Office of Financial Resources Management and the Office of Information Systems and Technology in the Bureau of Management, as well as the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.

The Transparency Team leads the corporate efforts to provide high-quality project data within and outside UNDP, and to improve the capacity of countries to produce and use this information. 

UNDP is interested in hearing your ideas and comments about open.undp.org.

Contact information

Email: transparency@undp.org