Trillions flow, but tracking is hard

Trillions of dollars flow from governments and organizations across the globe every single year, and the money can be nearly impossible to accurately track.

New platform launches Wednesday

The Development Finance Observatory launches on Wednesday, giving users the ability to access tons of disparate data sources and make analyses using plain language.

Compare countries' debt over time

Users might compare the debt paid by one country to another over the past fifteen years, adjusted for inflation, an analysis that was possible before but required significant time and resources.

Built by One Data with major backing

The project is an initiative from One Data, part of the nonprofit One Campaign, with support from Google.org and the Rockefeller Foundation's public charity, RF Catalytic Capital.

Built on Google's Data Commons

The platform was built on Google's Data Commons, a technology that aggregates data from multiple sources into one searchable system.

Finance data is fragmented

David McNair, managing director at One Data, says finance flows are a very fragmented world where GDP data comes from the International Monetary Fund but inflation data comes from elsewhere.

“Finance flows are a very fragmented world”

Platform pulls data from many sources

The tool's real magic is the ability to pull data from a host of sources and get an idea of where money is going and where it may be getting lost in the mix.

Like having an analyst in your pocket

The platform lets users access tons of sources and make analyses using plain language, making complex financial tracking accessible to anyone without specialized expertise.