Making information about aid spending easier to access, use and understand

iMENTORS has opened its data to all unregistered users in its last six months of operation. It is important that donors provide information about the aid they give. More important though is for the information to be publicly available in a way that people can easily understand. iMENTORS (www.imentors.eu) is the most comprehensive data map on ICT investments in Africa and contains data across a multitude of entities, classified as organisations, research infrastructures, fibre networks and projects.

The EU-funded project contains information about all known resources, tools and data supporting community research and development in Africa in the past five years. Registration is only required to update the information available, or to add additional entries. iMENTORS is currently validating all the data it has in its database by contacting all organisations that are registered on the platform.

Aid transparency means that everyone can see how much aid is being donated. This helps to make sure that aid is used in the most effective ways. For this reason, iMENTORS shares more up-to-date information in a form that makes information more accessible to all relevant stakeholders.

Data is customized to fit the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) reporting standards. IATI provides a common data format. This makes it easier for data users to access the information and compare it against other donor’s data. IATI offers an agreed framework of best reporting practice which delivers information that meets the needs of all stakeholders. As an increasing number of organisations involved in aid and development activities adopt the IATI standards, adapting the iMENTORS data harvester to this reporting format increases the propensity of iMENTORS to be integrated with other aid portals or donors websites.   

See the map!