Laia Grino's blog

This last blog post of the series delves into the challenge of balancing the demand for more data with the need to ensure a sufficient level of data quality. For NGO Aid Map to be successful, people must view it as a source of reliable and useful information, which suggests the need to prioritize data quality. On the other hand, if the initiative seems to lack forward momentum and starts to feel stale, this also invites failure. So what direction will NGO Aid Map be taking? For reasons we’ll explain below, we’ve chosen to go wide over going deep.

One of the first questions we get about NGO Aid Map – an initiative that pools and shares data about the work of InterAction members around the world – is, “Who visits the site?” A close second is, “How are people using the site?” Though we have some information about this, these are both surprisingly difficult questions to answer.

The “Who”

In the second post in this series, I discussed what we’ve learned about what motivates InterAction members to provide data for NGO Aid Map, an initiative that pools and shares data about the work of InterAction members around the world. But incentives are just one part of the equation.

The viability and success of NGO Aid Map, a mapping initiative that pools and shares data about the work of InterAction members around the world, depends entirely on whether InterAction members contribute data. Unlike an organization or donor that can require its staff or grantees to share certain information, participation in NGO Aid Map is completely voluntary.

Open data, or “data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone” – combined with standards that make that data comparable across organizations – is being touted as one of the keys to improving philanthropy and international aid. The thinking is that by making aid information easier to combine, access and use, accountability for aid resources will improve, funding will go where it’s needed most, and opportunities for corruption will be reduced.

NGOs are certainly not expected to publish open data tomorrow. But open data is not just another trend that will eventually fade away – it represents a change in expectations about the way organizations should operate.

The quality of relationships between international NGOs and their local partners relates directly to the effectiveness of their development work. Recognizing this, 25 organizations participated in a survey last September to collect feedback from their local partners. Findings from the survey, conducted on behalf of U.S.