Data from FAO projects is now easier to explore and understand

Rome – A new online dashboard released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) provides an intuitive, user-friendly way to visualize connections between FAO’s projects, resource partners, and thematic areas of work, offering an easy way for the public to understand the large amount of project data published by the Organization.

The launch of the dashboard underscores FAO’s commitment to transparency, by allowing users to explore where funding comes from, how it is distributed across different areas of the Organization’s work and how these projects help to deliver on priority areas under FAO’s Strategic Framework and advance progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu in remarks made at the dashboard’s launch said: “It will help you – our Members, our donors and other partners – to be able to easily track funding flows and connections between resources, projects and thematic areas.

“You will see today that the dashboard enables users to view and analyze project data by recipient or country destination, by donor, as well as by the Four Betters and the SDGs,” he added.

Enhancing transparency

The Director-General noted how the dashboard provides greater transparency and accessibility in the use of resources in FAO projects and that it is available on a dedicated FAO Transparency Portal accessible from the FAO homepage.

Since May 2017, FAO has been publishing data on a quarterly basis in accordance with the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), a common standard for publishing open, high-quality data on humanitarian and development projects and spending. IATI publishers range from donor governments to development finance institutions, UN organizations, NGOs and private sector entities, all of which commit to making their data easier to access, use and understand.

The dashboard goes beyond IATI requirements by allowing users to understand not only funding flows and project activities, but also how FAO’s work contributes to Organizational and global goals. Users can explore FAO’s delivery according to the Organization’s Strategic Framework, drilling down to Programme Priority Areas under each of the “four betters” – better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life – and according to the SDGs, down to the level of indicators under each goal. In-depth information on each project is available in a section on highlights, where users can access terminal reports factsheets, informing of the impact and results of each project.