How to publish data on COVID 19

Where to publish data on COVID-19

AidStream is set up to allow you to publish COVID-19 data as per the IATI publishing guidance.

You can publish data on your organisation’s activities responded to COVID-19 in 5 places:

• Title and activity description: if an activity is fully or partially related to COVID-19 you should put ‘COVID-19’ in the title and explain how your activity is related to COVID-19 in the activity description.
• Transaction descriptions: if a specific transaction is COVID-19 related, you should put ‘COVID-19 in the transaction description.
• Humanitarian Scope: add globally recognised humanitarian codes, linking your activity to the COVID-19 pandemic).
• Tag: if your organisation cannot use the humanitarian scope (as per 3) for its development activities, you can use the tag element instead.
• Humanitarian flag: use this to mark you activity or a transaction as being ‘humanitarian’.

It is important to publish data quickly, with as much information as you can. Please also regularly update your activities detailing any changes, providing transaction data and results.

---

Setting up your AidStream account

To provide the maximum amount of COVID-19 data in your activities, you will need to have a CORE AidStream account that is using IATI version 2.03.

Check you are using CORE:

• The type of account you are using is displayed in the top left corner of your screen. To upgrade from LITE to CORE, click on the user icon on the top right hand side and follow the instructions. Upgrading your account is free to do.

Check your IATI version

• See if there is an ‘update available' button in the top middle of your screen. Click this button and then follow the instructions.

Check you have the required elements:

• All AidStream CORE accounts contain basic activity data elements. To publish COVID-19 data you will need to select the extra data elements highlighted below. To select them, go to Settings - Activity Elements Checklist.
• You will need to make sure the ‘Tag’ and ‘Humanitarian Scope’ elements are selected under the Classifications section.

---

How to publish COVID-19 data

1. Using the title and description elements

‘COVID-19’ should be added to the title and description of the activity. This can be added to both new activities and those which are already published.

2. Transaction descriptions

If particular transactions are related to COVID-19, you should add ‘COVID-19’ to the transaction’s description. This is helpful as it allows users to add up the total amount of COVID-19 financing.

To add a description, go to the Transactions page and click on the edit (pen symbol) button.

Then scroll down until you see the Description field.

3. Humanitarian Scope

The humanitarian scope element links your activity to international efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic. This should be used for both development and humanitarian activities.

You should enter details for both an ‘emergency’ with GLIDE code: EP-2020-000012-001 and an ‘appeal’ with Humanitarian Plan code: HCOVD20.

This looks like:

If you cannot find the option to add a humanitarian scope element, please go to the ‘setting up your account’ section at the top of this page.

4. Tag element

Only in cases where your organisation does not allow you to use the humanitarian scope element for your development activities, you can instead use the ‘tag’ element.

Tag can be found under the classifications section. The Tag vocabulary should be set to 99 and ‘COVID-19’ as the code:

If you cannot find the option to add a tag element, please go to the ‘setting up your account’ section at the top of this page.

5. Humanitarian flag

If your activity is partially or fully humanitarian, a humanitarian flag should be added.

To mark an activity as humanitarian, click on the ‘Override Activity Default’ button at the top of your activity (note, when you set up your account you selected a default value for your activities. This can be changed in settings).

If your activity is partially humanitarian, you should also mark specific transactions as being humanitarian. To do this, go to the Transactions page and click on the edit (pen symbol) button.

You can then select ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the humanitarian field.

Not all activities responding to the COVID-19 pandemic will be classified as ‘humanitarian’, so please only use the Humanitarian flag where relevant.

---

Where to find further support:

• Please send your questions about publishing IATI data on COVID-19 to [email protected]
• If you experience difficulties using AidStream, please contact [email protected]