Drought Finance & Action Tracker

The lack of a consistent, comprehensive, and dedicated reporting system remains one of the major barriers to assessing the status of global drought finance. Over the past 20 years, however, official development assistance (ODA) has been monitored and registered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Leveraging this database, FAO analysed drought-related projects and built a drought-specific database, forming the basis of the first Drought Finance Tracker, an innovative and user-friendly platform for the elaboration of statistics and analysis of drought finance at global, regional, and country levels.

Building on the success of tracking drought-related projects worldwide, FAO expanded the Tracker's coverage in collaboration with the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. By applying state-of-the-art information extraction techniques and machine learning models, the drought-specific database was enhanced to include a wider range of projects addressing meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological types of drought.

The Drought Finance & Action Tracker has grown into an interactive platform for the analysis of drought finance and on-the-ground action at global, regional, and country levels.  It brings together comprehensive data on drought-related funding and on-the-ground interventions, enabling users to explore, analyze, and compare drought finance and action and support evidence-based decision-making in drought management.

Finance – Track and analyze ODA flows dedicated to drought management, to examine how drought-related funding is allocated across various sectors, regions, and providers, and track trends over time. Filter information by financial instruments, sectors, donors and other key parameters to tailor the analysis to specific needs and identify where investment gaps remain.

Action – Go beyond the numbers. Explore the activities implemented behind drought-related funding, drawing on detailed information extracted from publicly available project reports. Understand what interventions are being implemented, by which organizations, and in which contexts, and understand better how to connect financial flows to concrete actions on the ground.

The tool is designed for a broad audience, including policymakers, development practitioners, researchers, and anyone working to strengthen the evidence base for drought resilience and preparedness.