A unique web toolThe Team Europe Explorer is the only platform where you can visualise both the EU and its 27 Member States’ spending of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD). Graphs and maps show which actor is active where, how much financial support various geographic and thematic areas receive, and how funding changes over time.
A one-stop shopThe Team Europe Explorer draws its data from the Commission’s internal database as well as open data reported by the EU Member States and the European Investment Bank to the OECD’s databases (Creditor Reporting System (CRS) and TOSSD), and the database of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard. It is managed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA).
Promoting transparencyThe Team Europe Explorer centralises financial and project-level data for better transparency and accountability. Making data easily accessible, it can also enhance the coordination and effectiveness of Team Europe approach actors’ action.
Team Europe consists of the EU, its 27 Member States, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The Team Europe approach means joining forces so that our joint external action becomes more than the sum of its parts. By working together in an inclusive and coordinated manner and pooling our resources and expertise, we deliver greater impact for our partner countries.
Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) are an example of how coming together in a Team Europe approach can deliver transformational results for partner countries or regions.
The EBRD is currently not reporting any ODA or TOSSD data to the OECD (CRS and TOSSD) nor to IATI and is therefore not included in this tool.
Scope
The website displays the gross Official Development Assistance (ODA) disbursements (since 2007) as well as the Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) (since 2019) for the projects funded by the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the current 27 EU Member States. This dataset can be explored from various perspectives in the ODA and TOSSD dashboards and downloaded as ODA infographics.
Data Sources and Frequency of Updates
ODA Dashboard
The ODA Dashboard allows users to select a data source on which the displayed information is based, each suited for different types of analyses. The users can choose a data source by clicking on one of the two “Sourcing Logic” buttons:
- EC+OECD (European Commission + Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) – comprises internal ODA data of the European Commission updated daily, internal ODA data of the European Investment Bank updated annually, as well as the annual ODA data of the 27 EU Member States published by the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System (see Glossary for further details).
- EC+IATI (European Commission + International Aid Transparency Initiative) – comprises internal ODA data of the European Commission updated daily, internal ODA data of the European Investment Bank updated annually, as well as data of those EU Member States which are reporting to IATI (with varying update frequencies), as published by IATI (see Glossary for further details).
The EC+OECD data source (selected by default) should be used to perform any robust statistical analysis as it is richer in terms of the number of reporting donor countries, and the data is more rigorously verified by a third party (OECD). This source, however, lacks detailed project information (such as geo-locations) and is usually only published towards the end of year N+1, i.e. towards the end of the year following the one to which the data refers. Under this sourcing logic, users can switch between two views reflecting different measures: The “Net Disbursements & Grant Equivalent” view shows ODA as net disbursements up to 2017 data, and as of 2018 data on a grant equivalent basis where available and as net disbursements otherwise. The other option is to show ODA as “Gross Disbursements”. (See Glossary for further details.)
The EC+IATI data source should be used to consult either detailed project information (such as geo-locations) or to find out more about the most recent ODA funding by Team Europe approach actors (thanks to the more frequent refresh). The high frequency of the information updates and the absence of a third-party verification however make it subject to a greater risk of imprecision. In addition, although the number of the EU donors joining the IATI standard is growing, it is currently less complete than the EC+OECD. Publishers report their project level data to IATI at varying degrees of detail, and data is updated and continuously improved by the publishers. If geo-locations, policy markers etc. do not appear on the platform, the publisher has not reported this information.
Due to the above-mentioned reasons, the EC+OECD and EC+IATI data sources will yield different results. Hence, the information should be treated with care and selected depending on your objectives.
ODA Infographics
The ODA Infographics draw their data from the EC+OECD data source.
TOSSD Dashboard
The TOSSD Dashboard comprises daily updated internal TOSSD data of the European Commission, annually updated internal TOSSD data of the European Investment Bank and yearly updated TOSSD data of those EU Member States which are reporting on TOSSD, as published by the OECD (see Glossary for further details).
Concepts and Reporting Standards
What is ODA?
Official Development Assistance (ODA) is defined as concessional government aid that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.
What is the OECD’s Creditor Reporting System (CRS)?
The Creditor Reporting System (CRS) serves the reporting on aid activities from members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), multilateral organisations and other donors, including annual statistics of official development assistance (ODA). The data are part of the official statistical reporting to the OECD. The DAC Secretariat is responsible for data processing, quality control and dissemination.
What is IATI?
The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) is a global multi-stakeholder initiative to improve the transparency of development and humanitarian resources and their results for addressing poverty and crises. At the heart is the IATI Standard, which is a set of rules and guidance for publishing useful development and humanitarian data. All data published to the IATI Standard is catalogued in the IATI Registry as published.
What is TOSSD?
Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) is a statistical measure that includes all officially-supported resources to promote sustainable development in developing countries. This includes two Pillars:
- Pillar I covers cross-border flows to developing and vulnerable countries.
- Pillar II covers resources to support international public goods, development enablers and/or address global challenges at regional or global levels.
TOSSD measures both official resources and private resources mobilised through official means. Flows reported to TOSSD must pass a sustainability test and are subject to the scrutiny of recipient countries through a data review mechanism.
What is the difference between the ODA Dashboard and the TOSSD Dashboard?
The Team Europe Explorer incorporates two dashboards, one showing Official Development Assistance (ODA) and one showing Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD).
The ODA Dashboard allows the user to find comprehensive aggregate data as well as detailed information on international development projects funded by the EU, its Member States and the EIB which constitute concessional flows and are promoting and specifically targeting the economic development and welfare of developing countries.
The TOSSD Dashboard allows the user to find project and payment information on activities from the EU, its Member States and the EIB that are considered eligible under the TOSSD standard (promotion of sustainable development). This includes cross-border flows to developing and vulnerable countries as well as regional or global resources to support international public goods, development enablers and/or address global challenges. TOSSD tracks additional forms of financing that go beyond concessional flows.
How to classify the eligibility criteria regarding sustainable development?
In the context of TOSSD, an activity is deemed to support sustainable development if it directly contributes to at least one of the SDG targets as identified in the official list of SDG targets developed and maintained by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and if no substantial detrimental effect is anticipated on one or more of the other targets. By reporting an activity as TOSSD, the provider confirms that the activity supports the 2030 Agenda, and complies with global and regional, economic, environmental, and social standards endorsed by the provider or recipient. The provider further confirms that, where the nature of the activity raises sustainability concerns, steps have been taken to ensure sustainability through:
- screening with a set of Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS) or applying other sustainability standards or processes, and/or
- specific discussions with the recipient on the sustainability aspects of the support provided, either at activity or portfolio level.
The EU commitment to aid transparency
In the new European Consensus on Development, the EU and its Member States reaffirm their commitment to applying the key principles of development effectiveness, among them to enhance transparency and mutual accountability, and to developing tools to present and use development cooperation data more effectively. Transparency is one of the six principles of the Global Gateway strategy as delivering projects that work for people will require transparency, accountability, and financial sustainability.
The European Commission sits on the steering committee and is an active supporter of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC). The GPEDC was established in 2011 at the Busan High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which defined the four development effectiveness principles that form the basis of the partnership’s work: one of the four is precisely transparency and mutual accountability.
The European Commission is a member of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) since the inception of the initiative in 2008; the European Investment Bank joined in 2013. IATI is a common open standard for electronic publication of timely, comprehensive and forward-looking information on resources provided through development cooperation and humanitarian aid.
With a view to enhance the transparency of development and humanitarian assistance provided by the EU and its Member States and support the use of this data by all stakeholders, the Commission has developed the Team Europe Explorer to bring together the relevant data published to OECD (ODA in the CRS as well as TOSSD) and IATI (ODA) by EU Institutions and EU Member States. It is managed by the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA).
Business Rules
The Team Europe Explorer uses internal data of the European Commission and the European Investment Bank as well as publicly available data from the OECD (ODA in the CRS as well as TOSSD) and IATI websites as reported individually by the 27 EU Member States. In order to provide a harmonised view for analysis, it was sometimes necessary to apply assumptions and changes to the original data set. You can discover more about the key changes to the data applied in the Team Europe Explorer here.
