ONE Data and Rockefeller Foundation to Launch New Development Finance Observatory in 2026

New analysis kicking off US$4 million collaboration reveals a 124% increase in MDB financing, while Chinese finance began to flow out of developing countries, with Africa hit hardest

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- At a time when international funding to developing countries is in decline, ONE Data announced the "Development Finance Observatory," with US$4 million total funding from Google.org and The Rockefeller Foundation, to help maximize the impact of every dollar. This first-of-its-kind, interactive data collaboration launching this year will improve the accessibility of development finance data and reduce data fragmentation, while integrating both financial inflows to and outflows from developing economies. The platform is being developed with technical infrastructure support from Google's Data Commons and produced by ONE Data. An initial analysis finds that over the last decade, China shifted from a net provider of finance for low- and middle-income countries (transferring $48 billion) to a net extractor (pulling $24 billion out). Meanwhile, multilateral lenders stepped up—boosting net financing by 124% and now providing 56% of net flows, or $378.7 billion between 2020-2024.

Today's development finance data is often fragmented and siloed – with different datasets optimized for different audiences and blind spots that make it hard to answer straightforward questions quickly.  Produced by ONE Data, the Observatory will integrate both financial inflows and outflows to developing economies. Inflows in this analysis include Official Development Assistance (ODA) and new lending to governments – offset by outflows from governments, such as debt servicing.

David McNair, Executive Director at ONE Data, said: "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."

Through an investment in technical infrastructure and AI-enabled tools, the Observatory will provide a fuller picture of financing flows into developing country economies by integrating fragmented datasets into a more coherent system, linking flows across aid, debt, private finance, remittances, and domestic budgets, while making sources and methods transparent and auditable. Allowing for a country-focused view, collapsing the time between data and insight, users will be able to follow the money using natural-language questions.

With $3 million from Google's philanthropy Google.org, ONE is expanding its technical team to build the Observatory's platform using Google's Data Commons. This partnership leverages Google's foundational infrastructure and technical support to transform fragmented development finance data into a unified, interactive tool.

Prem Ramaswami, Head of Data Commons at Google said: "By leveraging Google's Data Commons technical infrastructure, we are providing a unified 'data backbone', turning disconnected numbers into a clear roadmap for organizations tackling global challenges."

The Observatory will also represent an ecosystem approach through technical, syndication, and product partnerships. The Rockefeller Foundation, through its public charity, RF Catalytic Capital, is investing $700,000 to support the integration of development finance datasets and help stakeholders to understand the rapidly changing development finance landscape at a more granular level by country, sector, and more. This effort is part of The Rockefeller Foundation's Build the Shared Future Initiative, which is working to inspire and inform global cooperation that's equal to the challenges of the 21st century.

Mike Muldoon, Chief of Staff and Counselor at The Rockefeller Foundation, said: "The future of global development needs to be underpinned by data-driven policy. The Development Finance Observatory will provide policymakers a clear, comprehensive picture of existing aid, debt, and repayments in order to ensure that every dollar, public and private, in the system is spent efficiently. 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."

Snapshot of Initial Findings:

The first piece of data analysis from the Observatory, looking at net finance flows into developing countries from 2010 through 2024 (latest available official data) includes, but is not limited to:

• Bilateral flows have quietly retreated. Aggregate bilateral net flows for the last five years fell by $19 billion compared to the 2010-2014 period, a 6% drop. This decline will steepen from 2025 given the ODA cuts
  
  
• Private finance has evaporated. Public and publicly guaranteed long-term external debt from private sources declined from 19% of net flows to 1%. This type of debt collapsed from $115 billion in net new resources over the 2010-2014 period to $7.3 billion in the last five years.
  
  
• Chinese finance has undergone a "Great Reversal." China went from being a net provider of finance—transferring $48 billion to low- and lower-middle-income countries (via official and private lenders) a decade ago—to a net extractor of $24 billion. Africa has experienced the most dramatic reversal in Chinese finance. It went from receiving $30 billion to paying out $22 billion, a $52 billion swing.
  
  
• Multilateral institutions have become the bedrock of development finance. These institutions including Multilateral Development Banks such as the World Bank now account for 56% of net flows, up from 28% a decade earlier. They have increased financing by 124% during this period.

Additional Statements of Support:

• "Data has long been a constraint on better decision-making, investment, and a fuller understanding of both Africa's challenges and its opportunities. Yet data is essential to shaping credible narratives and grounding meaningful debate. In an age of misinformation, making sense of the noise and the numbers matters more than ever. We welcome ONE Data's role, and our partnership with them, in bringing clarity and fact-based insight to critical issues." ― Omar Ben Yeddar, Group Publisher, African Business, which will join the partnership and deliver data driven insights to key audiences in Africa and help ensure the data reaches decision-makers where they work.
  
  
• "Understanding the impact of ODA cuts is critical. This partnership will strengthen the work of academic modellers who seek to inform decision makers on the impacts their decisions are having in the real world." ― Davide Rasella, Head of the Global Health Impact Assessment and Evaluation Group, ICREA Research Professor, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), which will collaborate on modelling the health impacts of ODA cuts.
  
  
• "Climate and development finance cannot be analysed in isolation. New AI and data science approaches make it possible to connect fragmented text-based information and generate more coherent evidence across policy and finance — supporting clearer, more accountable decision-making." ― Michal Nachmany, CEO, Climate Policy Radar, which will collaborate on AI-based modelling of text data to enhance the integration of climate and development finance insights.

About ONE Data
ONE Data is an initiative from the ONE Campaign that transforms fragmented, inaccessible development data into trusted, actionable insights for policymakers, campaigners, journalists, and citizens. We organize the world's public finance data – democratising access and collapsing the time from data to insight. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at https://substack.com/@insider.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on collaborative partnerships at the frontiers of science, technology, and innovation that enable individuals, families, and communities to flourish. We make big bets to promote the well-being of humanity in food, health, energy, and finance, including in connection with our affiliated public charity, RF Catalytic Capital[NJ1]  (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation.

SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation