Path to Scale Funding Dashboard

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Methodology

  • The published dataset, as reflected in the Path to Scale Funding Dashboard, specifically focuses on international donor funding for Indigenous Peoples (IP), Local Communities (LC), and Afro-descendant Peoples (ADP) concerning tenure, rights, conservation, climate, and development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). While our research primarily targets tropical forest areas, the dataset also includes activities outside these regions, such as institutional strengthening of Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) and land rights mapping.
  • Historically, our research scope was described as "IP and LC tenure and forest management." However, we have now adopted the term "IP, LC, and ADP tenure rights and forest guardianship" to acknowledge the critical role of Afro-descendant Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean. The dataset has expanded to include activities that fund ADPs, and future data expansions will cover non-forested landscapes—such as drylands, rangelands, and grasslands—recognized for their biodiversity and stewardship by collective rightsholders.
  • Our analysis follows a detailed, multi-step process to accurately review a dataset containing over a million activities reported by donors. The unit of analysis is an "activity," as defined by the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). Reporting organizations self-define these activities, which can range from multiple projects or work streams grouped under a single activity. The data provided varies in granularity—from detailed reports with budgets and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) findings to simple one-sentence descriptions of grants.
  • Our methodology faces inherent limitations due to data quality. For instance, gaps may occur when reporting organizations lack transparency, such as missing information on implementing organizations or overly vague activity descriptions. For an independent assessment of IATI reporting quality, please review the 2024 Aid Transparency Index.

Methodological Overview

Below we provide a graphical overview of the processing pipeline. Methodological overview