‘Like having an analyst in your pocket’: This macroeconomic data platform helps you follow the global money

Every year, trillions of dollars flow from governments and organizations worldwide, making it nearly impossible to accurately track. To combat this, the Development Finance Observatory (DFO), a data platform launched on Wednesday, offers users the ability to access various data sources and analyze them using plain language. The platform, an initiative from One Data, a nonprofit part of the One Campaign, is supported by Google.org and RF Catalytic Capital.

Built on Google’s Data Commons, the DFO aims to simplify the process of understanding finance flows, which often come from fragmented sources.

David McNair, managing director at One Data, highlights the platform's ability to pull data from multiple sources and provide insights into where money is going and where it may be lost. "Finance flows are a very fragmented world," he explains. Users, whether finance ministers, U.S. funders, or journalists, can quickly find where the money is going with the help of the platform.

Jorge Rivera, the senior director of data and product at One Data, notes that what is currently available is merely a fraction of the platform's potential. The project took nearly a year to complete, with the goal of continuously adding more data sources.

With over 100,000 indicators and more than 90 finance and development datasets, the DFO aims to be a versatile tool for users. The platform also offers a library of AI agent skills to help navigate and analyze the data, essentially providing an "analyst in your pocket." Rivera emphasizes how the DFO can speed up data analysis and potentially lead to better decision-making. "We’ve taken a process that could’ve taken several people and months of work, and it can now be done in 10 minutes," he states.