AidData works with international development organizations to more effectively track, target, monito
AidData is a research lab at William and Mary’s Global Research Institute. We work with policymakers and practitioners across governments and international development organizations to more effectively track, target, monitor, and evaluate development investments. We use rigorous methods, cutting-edge tools, and granular data to answer the question: who is doing what, where, for whom, and to what e
ffect? Our work crosses sectors and disciplines and serves the unique needs of both the policy and academic communities, as well as acting as a bridge between the two. AidData's research agenda is focused on catalyzing innovation in five program areas that empower decision-makers with better evidence. Our interdisciplinary team works together to seek entry points for evidence in foreign policy cutting across regions and sectors, including economic development, education, the environment, fragility and conflict, governance, health, HIV & AIDS, infrastructure, poverty, public diplomacy, refugees and vulnerable populations, rural development, and sustainable development. Transparent Development Footprints — Tracking and analyzing the effects of underreported financial flows from public and private donors, lenders, and investors that publicly disclose little about their overseas activities
Sustainable Development Intelligence — Geographic and demographic tracking and targeting of sustainable development investments to ensure no one is left behind
Listening to Leaders — Understanding the priorities and perspectives of leaders in low and middle-income countries, and measuring the performance of development partners
Geospatial Impact Evaluations — Rigorously evaluating the impacts and cost-effectiveness of specific interventions and large investment portfolios with spatial data
Geospatial Data and Tools for Analysis — Creating high-resolution, high-frequency measures of development outcomes, powerful spatial data integration and extraction infrastructure, and next-generation geospatial analysis tools
"The expansion of digital ... represents a critical threat to global ," write the International Republican Institute (IRI)'s Caitlin Dearing Scott and AidData's Jonathan A. Solis in a new piece for The Hill, on and 's exporting of the surveillance state. 🇨🇳🇷🇺📵
Democratic governments should consider monitoring and export restrictions to limit the opportunities to use these tools for malign ends.
"If African leaders are lobbying China for less infrastructure project financing, they are pushing on an open door," says AidData's Brad Parks in a new Reuters piece.
🇨🇳 made $88 billion of investments in Africa 🌍 in 2009. But by 2021, that number had fallen by more than 70%, finds AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute. Will new pledges from Xi Jinping at the summit this week change this? 🚜🏗
China's leader Xi Jinping told African leaders at a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on Thursday that China would launch initiatives to support Africa's industrialisation and agricultural modernisation.
We're excited to share that AidData Senior Research Scientist Ammar Malik, who leads our Development Finance Program, has been selected as a new Wilson China Fellow! His research in residence will focus on "Crossroads of Regret: Unveiling Asia's Belt & Road Dilemma." 🇨🇳🌍
Learn more about the Wilson Center's 2023-24 class of Wilson China Fellows here: https://wilsoncenter.org/article/wilson-center-announces-2023-24-wilson-china-fellowship-class
📢 We're ! 📢
AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute is seeking Research Assistants for Fall 2023, to join our Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) team. This is a great opportunity to get involved in . 👩🏾💻🧑🏼💻
Apply below by Sept 5!
At AidData you will join world-class development professionals in solving challenging development questions, working together with colleagues from diverse disciplines including economics, computer science, geography, public health, environmental studies and political science.
Thanks to all who attended the equitable AI this morning, whether in-person or online—and many thanks to our partner and host, CDD-Ghana - Ghana Center for Democratic Development!
We appreciated the engaging discussion with stakeholders & experts from Ghana Statistical Service, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Universität des Saarlandes - Saarland University, AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute, and more on how to address bias in applications for development 🌍 💵
, a recording is available below.
⏰ Starting in 30 min! Join us at 6 AM EDT / 10 AM GMT for a hosted by CDD-Ghana - Ghana Center for Democratic Development on evaluating bias in applications for global . A recording will be available after the event.
📢 EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT 📢
We're excited to partner with CDD-Ghana - Ghana Center for Democratic Development for a workshop on bias in applications for global , such as creating wealth estimates 🌍 💵
📆 📍Join us tomorrow (8/16/2023) at 6:00 AM EDT / 10:00 AM GMT (Ghana) at CDD Ghana's headquarters & streamed online.
AidData Research Scientist Dr. Rachel Sayers will be joined by experts from CDD Ghana, Ghana Statistical Service, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for an engaging discussion.
Live stream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vRo07Ytxg4
Starting now! Join AidData's Alex Wooley in conversation with The Heritage Foundation's Brent Sadler, hosted by Thomas Spoehr, on 's global port investments & implications for future bases. Live stream link below. 🇨🇳🚢
Event Asia August 15, 2023 China’s Future Naval Bases: New Empirical Data Points to Likely Places Is China building new naval bases? Join us for a conversation on Harboring Global Ambitions: China’s Ports Footprint and Implications for Future Overseas Naval Bases, a recent report on where China ...
📢 EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT 📢
We're excited to partner with CDD-Ghana - Ghana Center for Democratic Development for a workshop on bias in applications for global , such as creating wealth estimates 🌍💵
📆 📍Join us Wednesday (8/16/2023) at 6:00 AM EDT / 10:00 AM GMT (Ghana), at CDD Ghana's headquarters & streamed online.
AidData Research Scientist Dr. Rachel Sayers will be joined by experts from CDD Ghana, Ghana Statistical Service, and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) for an engaging discussion.
Live stream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vRo07Ytxg4
📢 EVENT 📢
Tomorrow (8/15/23) at 11:00 AM EDT, join us at The Heritage Foundation for a conversation about a recent AidData report, "Harboring Global Ambitions," on 🇨🇳 's global ports investments & implications for future 🚢 bases—featuring AidData's Alex Wooley, and Brent Sadler & Tom Spoehr of The Heritage Foundation.
RSVP below to attend in-person or online. We look forward to seeing you there!
Event Asia August 15, 2023 China’s Future Naval Bases: New Empirical Data Points to Likely Places Is China building new naval bases? Join us for a conversation on Harboring Global Ambitions: China’s Ports Footprint and Implications for Future Overseas Naval Bases, a recent report on where China ...
New from AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute, in partnership with the International Republican Institute (IRI), finds countries with less developed internet infrastructure may be more vulnerable to Beijing-style digital tactics.
AidData research finds countries with less developed internet infrastructure may be more vulnerable to Beijing-style digital censorship regimes.
How is the construction & removal of pro- monuments 🇷🇺 across 🇺🇦 portrayed in narratives? 📰📸
Check out a new blog by AidData's Jonathan Solis and Abigail Maher, on how research by AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute is being used by a joint Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative / Virginia Museum of Natural History project to explore that question.
AidData research is being used by a Smithsonian/Virginia Natural History Museum project to study how the construction and removal of pro-Russian monuments across Ukraine is portrayed in media narratives.
📢 : Our new report on 's global investments—and the options and implications for future bases—is out now. 📢
Explore an interactive map of China’s ports worldwide, part of a new report by AidData on where China may site future overseas naval bases.
📢 New AidData report out now! 📢
We 💵 "follow the money"💵 to uncover 🇨🇳 's global footprint—and where China may go for its next overseas naval base 🌊🚢
🌍 Explore our interactive map & story below 👇
Many thanks to our colleagues at AidData and W&M's Global Research Institute for their support on this project.
Explore an interactive map of China’s ports worldwide, part of a new report by AidData on where China may site future overseas naval bases.
Twenty years ago, GRI’s founding labs were established by individuals driven to push boundaries and fill gaps in our understanding of global research topics (bit.ly/gri20th). The same culture exists today at GRI and is embodied by students like Michelle Zhou ‘24. Zhou is a Machine Learning Intern for AidData, where she has most recently worked on applying cutting-edge large language models on a five-digit encoding project to explore shifting from a human coding process to an automated one.
“This was an idea my friend David and I self-proposed to AidData,” Zhou said. “OECD designed this 5-digit code to track where financial aid flows to … and what we’re trying to do is use AI to code the projects automatically.”
To achieve this, the team first conducted sub-studies on large language models before learning how to deploy and fine tune Flan-ul2, Google’s open-source large language model. They then designed a few-shot learning pipeline to automate the 5-digit coding process, created a vector database for example selection, adjusted the prompt template, and in the end achieved a 95% accuracy rate, one higher than human coding results.
“We only tried it with health sector and post-2017 data, so our purpose right now is to actually extend this project to more sectors, more industries, and into a larger time period,” she said.
After watching the team present at GRI’s Spring Research Showcase, GRI Director Mike Tierney approached them about the possibility of applying a similar framework at Teaching, Research & International Policy - TRIP.
“This is much more complicated than five-digit coding because we’re dealing with articles that could be 40 pages long,” she said. “The data we’re dealing with from AidData only has around 200-word descriptions, so it’s a totally different difficulty level.”
Zhou also joined Ignite this summer, where she is coding a dashboard that processes raw data into visualization. This dashboard will hopefully become a resource for researchers to easily analyze datasets.
“There’s a lot to be said for how GRI encourages students to take such a hands-on approach to the field,” Grace McGehee ‘25 said. “I think my International Relations education wouldn’t be fully complete if I didn’t take the opportunity to participate in research at this level.”
McGehee is a Research Assistant for AidData’s Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) team, where her primary focus is source scraping. Through the TUFF methodology, the team identifies financial flows from China to countries around the world to build a comprehensive database of Chinese government-financed projects. This database is then transferred to and published by USAID - US Agency for International Development for public access.
“International Relations is such a huge and ever changing field,” she said. “It can be difficult to feel like I have a grasp on it, so just to dip my toes into these different countries and their specific situations has been great.”
While small sports equipment or vaccine donations may not seem comparable next to the large development loans in the database, the cumulation of these projects crafts a narrative of China’s global development. The database fills a gap in our understanding of China’s development footprint, and its impact can be seen throughout.
“My dad sent me a New York Times article once and he was like, ‘Oh, there’s AidData,’” she said. “That was so exciting because he was just looking at the news, and he saw that. While they’re not citing me or anything, I am still contributing to it. … I can do research on what’s going on in China or a country in Africa, and I can be in Williamsburg or Richmond or whatever, which is really cool.”
Sabrina Levri ‘26 joined AidData’s Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) team as a Research Assistant in early 2023. Through scraping government, organization, and media sites, Levri identified and recorded Chinese development financial flows, primarily focusing on COVID-19 donations.
“This research helps me to paint a better picture of what’s going on in the world in that aspect of development finance,” she said.
More recently, Levri has worked on recategorizing loans.
“New categories just got added to the internal database to make it easier to use for research,” she said. “So we’re going through and seeing if loans that hadn’t been sorted with those categories in mind might fall into any of these new categories.”
Levri said this process has given her a glimpse of the impact and reach of AidData’s findings.
“When I’m scraping sources, I’ve seen so many where AidData is mentioned in the source,” she said.
Beyond getting to learn about economics and finance through these projects, Levri has valued the relationships she’s built within the GRI community.
“The people have made it a really special experience,” she said. “One of the best moments I’ve had with GRI is when I spoke at Day for Admitted Students. I was working with another TUFF team member, who’s a senior, and I felt like I learned a lot from him by just talking right before the session.”
In the weeks preceding the July handoff to USAID, AidData’s Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) Research Assistants, like Dory Gilmer ‘23, worked on final additions and edits to the newest dataset. Gilmer, a Quality Assurance Research Assistant, is tasked with reviewing projects created in the first two stages of the TUFF methodology and implementing feedback from Brad Parks, Executive Director of AidData.
“Whenever we do a handoff, it’s exciting because there’s usually a lot of media coverage that comes from it,” she said. “It is really exciting to see CNN or BBC … talk about the research that you help create.”
While Gilmer’s current focus is logistical checks, she was still involved with the project identification and verification stages. Throughout her time, she has worked with countries around the world, including those within Latin America and Africa.
“My first summer, my fellow RA…was working on Mongolia, and I was helping him work through those projects,” she said. “There was one where China gave them tea and they paid them back with sheep. It was just kind of funny to see the more intricate ways that economies work.”
As a recent William & Mary alumna, Gilmer reflects on her undergraduate years and time at GRI, highlighting that she never expected to get involved with undergraduate research outside the classroom.
“I honestly think it unlocked a passion I didn’t know I had about international finance work,” she said. “I never thought I would touch finance, but I’ve been really excited about it and just learning about all the different avenues — sheep in Mongolia or whatever it is.”
Launching off our series this summer is Carina Rosenberg ‘24. Rosenberg joined AidData’s TUFF team her freshman year — first as an intern before becoming a Research Assistant, Senior Research Assistant, and now Management Research Assistant. Through these roles, Rosenberg has worked on source scraping, project verification, and quality assurance, which make up the three stages of the TUFF methodology.
“What AidData is doing is groundbreaking,” Rosenberg said. “We’re creating an open source database that creates transparency of Chinese financial flows all over the world … and a database like this didn’t previously exist.”
Research Assistants identify potential underreported projects through in-depth searches on government databases and websites, and official media reports. In addition to project-level research, Rosenberg onboarded and trained new TUFF interns, held office hours for Research Assistants, and contributed to a resource guide, known as Official Country Profiles. Her multilevel contributions have given her insight into TUFF’s impact.
“People make a lot of claims about Chinese financial flows, and what AidData is doing is quantifying that it is a gray zone,” she said. “I think this is really valuable for both policymakers and researchers to put numbers on the claims that they are making.”
As the founding labs at William & Mary's Global Research Institute celebrate 20 years, we look back at how they came to be.
New in Plos One on the untold story of 's funding in , published by AidData & W&M's Global Research Institute's Ammar Malik & Sheng Zhang and William & Mary's Carrie Dolan & Julius Odhiambo. See the South China Morning Post's article for a great overview!
Beijing’s support for African countries has expanded beyond sending thousands of healthcare workers to vital infrastructure.
Join us in 30 minutes for a great Wilson Center & Foreign Policy Research Institute 10am-12:30pm ET today w/ AidData's Jonathan Solis, Nara Sritharan & more on China's development assistance, the BRI, and implications for the Global South. Webcast link below!
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been a double-edged sword for countries on the receiving end of Beijing's financial assistance. While the BRI remains an integral part of Beijing's foreign economic policy, it reflects China's broader goal for engaging with the Global South through econom...
: As covered this week by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and more, we're excited to share the publication of a new study on China’s dramatically expanded rescue lending, "China as an International Lender of Last Resort," by authors at AidData, the World Bank, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), and the Harvard Kennedy School. See our news release below for a summary of top-line highlights.
A new study finds Beijing has dramatically expanded emergency rescue lending to countries in financial distress.
After a slight delay, the event is starting now! Join the livestream below for what promises to be an insightful panel discussion + launch of a new research volume produced by AidData on US , in partnership with W&M's Global Research Institute and the Gates Global Policy Center.
What concrete actions can the United States take to reimagine its strategic communications capabilities in an era of intensifying great power competition with China and Russia? Last December, William & Mary's Global Research Institute (GRI) partnered with the Gates Global Policy Center to convene th...
Starting soon! Join the livestream below for a stimulating panel discussion tonight from 6-8:30 PM EST, co-hosted with W&M's Global Research Institute, launching a new research volume produced by AidData on U.S. . The discussion will engage AidData's Samantha Custer, Vivian Walker at the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, and Shawn Powers at the U.S. Department of State, moderated by Thom Shanker from The George Washington University's Project for Media and National Security.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. strategic communications? How do great power competitors compare? And how can the United States best improve it...
Starting in half an hour! RSVP below to access the Zoom link.
📣 Hear from experts on 14 February
What are the ways forward for keeping development co-operation relevant and impactful?
Development Today Plan International UK Southern Voice Canada’s International Development – Global Affairs Canada The Brookings Institution
The 2023 OECD Development Co-operation Report is out now! Thanks to the OECD Development team for the opportunity for AidData to contribute a chapter on Global South views of development priorities, progress and partner performance, using our data.
In the last three years, multiple global crises and the growing urgency of containing climate change have put current models of development co-operation to, perhaps, their most radical test in decades. The goal of a better world for all seems harder...
RSVP to join what is sure to be an insightful discussion tomorrow (Feb 14) at 10:30am EST! This virtual event coincides with the launch of OECD Development's 2023 Development Co-operation report , on rethinking the international system.
📣 Hear from experts on 14 February
What are the ways forward for keeping development co-operation relevant and impactful?
Development Today Plan International UK Southern Voice Canada’s International Development – Global Affairs Canada The Brookings Institution
We're hiring! AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute is seeking applications for a Junior Data Analyst. It's not too late to apply: the position closes tonight (2/13) at 11:59pm EST. Join our dynamic, growing team and work on creation and analysis for RCTs, geospatial impact evaluations, and other projects.
At AidData you will join world-class development professionals in solving challenging development questions, working together with colleagues from diverse disciplines including economics, computer science, geography, public health, environmental studies and political science.
Tomorrow (Feb 14) at 10:30am EST, OECD Development launches their new 2023 Development Cooperation Report, "Debating the Aid System." RSVP below to join a great discussion on how must evolve to maintain relevance and impact! Thanks to the OECD Development team for letting AidData contribute a chapter to the report, based on our survey of what nearly 7000 from 141 countries look for in their preferred partners.
This launch event will bring together high-level government representatives, leaders of multilateral institutions, development agencies, civil society, experts and authors to take stock of debates about the aid system and discuss how the OECD can help the international community to boost the relevan...
Starting now! Join AidData for an exciting panel discussion, hosted in partnership with the OECD. It's not too late to RSVP and join via the Eventbrite below! The event will also be recorded and posted online.
Join AidData and the OECD for a panel exploring the future of global cooperation and multilateral development finance amidst crisis.
Join AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute and the OECD for an event tomorrow exploring the future of global and finance amidst crisis. RSVP via Eventbrite below! The event will be recorded and made available online.
Join AidData and the OECD for a panel exploring the future of global cooperation and multilateral development finance amidst crisis.
Many of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure projects are plagued with construction flaws, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal citing AidData research at W&M's Global Research Institute.
Many of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure projects are plagued with construction flaws, including a giant hydropower plant in Ecuador, adding more costs to a program criticized for leading countries deeper into debt; “They’re falling apart bit by bit.”
Join our growing team at AidData and W&M's Global Research Institute! We're hiring a Junior Data Analyst to work with household surveys and geodata for RCTs and geospatial impact evaluations. A great recent grad/-predoc opportunity! Apply below by Feb 6.
At AidData you will join world-class development professionals in solving challenging development questions, working together with colleagues from diverse disciplines including economics, computer science, geography, public health, environmental studies and political science.
Pakistan plans a $10bn upgrade of its main ML1 railway with Chinese financing, reports the Financial Times. But this comes as it faces strong financial strain—and Chinese loans carry higher interest rates than other creditors, according to AidData at W&M's Global Research Institute.
Islamabad says $10bn revamp of colonial-era line is essential even as it faces risk of default and forex reserves plunge
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AidData is a research lab at William and Mary’s Global Research Institute. We work with policymakers and practitioners across governments and international development organizations to more effectively track, target, monitor, and evaluate development investments. We use rigorous methods, cutting-edge tools, and granular data to answer the question: who is doing what, where, for whom, and to what effect? Our interdisciplinary work serves the unique needs of both the policy and academic communities, as well as acting as a bridge between the two.
AidData's research agenda is focused on catalyzing innovation in five program areas that empower decision-makers with better evidence. Our interdisciplinary team works together to seek entry points for evidence in foreign policy cutting across regions and sectors, including economic development, education, the environment, fragility and conflict, governance, health, HIV & AIDS, infrastructure, poverty, public diplomacy, refugees and vulnerable populations, rural development, and sustainable development.
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