Potential Changes: Codelists#
This table curates known potential changes to codeslists in the IATI Standard.
It is provided to give context and support to anyone interested in the future direction of the IATI Standard. It should not be interpreted as a backlog of items that will definitely be implemented.
For potential changes to be considered, a proposal is required. A proposal can consist of one or several potential changes, but requires clear rationale and impact assessment before any consideration.
At present, the IATI Secretariat will maintain this log for public access. Discussions, considerations, and ideas around potential changes for the IATI Standard are expected to take place in online and other fora, to ensure relevant stakeholders and use cases are clearly articulated and considered.
| Codelist | Proposed Change | Rationale | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aid Type | Add missing descriptions. | To ensure that data users and reporting organisations have a shared understanding of the codelist. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Budget not provided | Add missing descriptions. | To ensure that data users and reporting organisations have a shared understanding of the codelist. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Budget Identifier | Remove the codelist. | As of version 2.03 this codelist has been deprecated. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Budget Identifier Sector | Remove the codelist. | Assumed to be deprecated via Budget Identifier deprecation in v2.03. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Budget Identifier Sector (category) | Remove the codelist. | Assumed to be deprecated via Budget Identifier deprecation in v2.03. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Budget Identifier Vocabulary | Remove the codelist. | Assumed to be deprecated via Budget Identifier deprecation in v2.03. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Document Category | Add missing descriptions. | To ensure that data users and reporting organisations have a shared understanding of the codelist. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Document Category | Reformat codelist so that activity and organisation level documents are more clearly defined. Deprecate the Document Category (category) codelist. |
Currently, A codes are for activity level documents and B codes are for organisation level documents. This is not clear to data users or publishers. | Identified via IATI Support queries. | Added Nov 2025 |
| Finance Type | Add an alternative codelist | The existing codelist is taken from the DAC/CRS transaction classification. Reporting organisations have become more varied since IATIs inception, and struggle to map to internal codes. | Identified via IATI Support queries. | Added Nov 2025 |
| Gazetteer Agency | Remove the codelist. | Assumed to be deprecated via iati-activity/location/gazetteer-entry deprecation in v1.04. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Geographical Precision | Remove the codelist. | Assumed to be deprecated via iati-activity/location/coordinates deprecation in v1.04. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Humanitarian Scope Type | Add missing descriptions. | To ensure that data users and reporting organisations have a shared understanding of the codelist. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Humanitarian Scope Vocabulary | Replace the values 1-2 and 2-1 with 12 and 21. | Microsoft Excel interprets 1-2 and 2-1 as dates, which makes it hard to work with IATI data that uses this codelist in spreadsheets. | 2024 Members Assembly Session | Added Nov 2025 |
| Location Type (category) | Add missing descriptions. | To ensure that data users and reporting organisations have a shared understanding of the codelist. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Organisation Type | Map the codelist to the OECD DAC codes. | To allow easy mapping between systems. | Initial discussions in 2016. Requested by IATI Community Member, Sept 2025 |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Organisation Type (category) | Add missing descriptions. | To ensure that data users and reporting organisations have a shared understanding of the codelist. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Result Vocabulary | Deprecate the codelist. | This element is required but has one value. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |
| Transaction Type | Remove little used transaction types. Form a new codelist to provide this extra “@detail”. |
Rare transaction types are often excluded from data use queries, so the data is not used. | “Standardising the Standard” Previous secretariat research |
Added Nov 2025 |