WASHINGTON, Jan 30 – ONE Data has announced the launch of the Development Finance Observatory, a new interactive platform designed to improve transparency and accountability in global development finance, backed by a total of $4 million in funding from Google.org and The Rockefeller Foundation.
The initiative comes as international funding to developing countries declines and financing patterns shift. New analysis released alongside the announcement shows that over the past decade China has moved from being a net provider of finance to low- and middle-income countries, transferring $48 billion, to a net extractor, pulling $24 billion out. Africa has been the region most affected by this reversal.
At the same time, multilateral development banks have expanded their role significantly. Net financing from MDBs rose by 124% over the past decade, accounting for 56% of total net flows, or $378.7 billion, between 2020 and 2024.
Produced by ONE Data and developed with technical infrastructure support from Google’s Data Commons, the Observatory will integrate both financial inflows and outflows for developing economies. These include official development assistance and new government lending, offset by outflows such as debt servicing, addressing long-standing fragmentation across global finance datasets.
David McNair, Executive Director of ONE Data, said the project aims to close critical data gaps. “To make better decisions we need accurate, timely facts. This partnership is about harnessing the latest technology to build a public-good data backbone that reduces fragmentation and improves accountability so that everyone from policy-makers to investors to citizens can follow the money and understand the impact it’s having,” he said.
The platform will use AI-enabled tools to connect data across aid, debt, private finance, remittances, and domestic budgets, while ensuring transparency around sources and methodology. Users will be able to analyze country-level financing flows and query the data using natural language, shortening the time between data availability and insight.
Google.org is contributing $3 million to expand ONE Data’s technical team and support development of the platform using Google’s Data Commons infrastructure. Prem Ramaswami, Head of Data Commons at Google, said the partnership would turn disconnected datasets into a unified resource for decision-makers working on global challenges.
The Rockefeller Foundation, through RF Catalytic Capital, is investing $700,000 to support integration of development finance datasets and enable more granular analysis by country and sector. The funding forms part of the foundation’s Build the Shared Future Initiative, which aims to strengthen global cooperation through data-driven policy.
Mike Muldoon, Chief of Staff and Counselor at The Rockefeller Foundation, said the Observatory would help policymakers better understand aid, debt, and repayment dynamics. “By using AI and other technologies to bring together different sources of data and make them easily accessible, we can help leaders make faster, better decisions to support people in need around the world,” he said.
The Development Finance Observatory is scheduled to launch in 2026 and is expected to serve policymakers, investors, researchers, and civil society groups seeking clearer insight into how development finance is deployed and recycled across emerging economies.
