Lucas Foganholo

Lucas Foganholo is an international development and data specialist based in Brighton and Hove, UK. He works in financial analysis at Sightsavers, where he has looked after the organisation’s International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) data and transparency since 2020, and has spent close to a decade volunteering as a researcher for the United Nations. In his spare time he builds useful tools for Android.

          OBS. 01 · GLOBAL DATA OBSERVATORY (CONCEPT DEMO)
          
            SNAPSHOT PENDING
            SINGLE WEBGL VISUAL · NO EXTERNAL ASSETS

OBS. 01 · TEXT VIEW

This browser couldn’t start the WebGL globe, so the same data is shown as text below. The page is working normally.

An interactive globe renders here when WebGL is available, with discrete data points marked at real locations. Its four datasets, with headline figures from the cited sources:

· IATI financial flows. 1,821 publishers, 890,598 activities (Code for IATI Analytics, October 2025). Who publishes the most aid activity data: Sweden (Sida) leads, ahead of USAID and Switzerland.
· E-government development. Global mean EGDI 0.6382; Denmark leads at 0.9847 (UN E-Government Survey 2024, UN DESA).
· Global Open Data Index. 94 places assessed across 15 key datasets; Taiwan ranked first (Open Knowledge Foundation, 2016/17).
· Emissions gap. 57.7 GtCO2e emitted in 2024, a record high, up 2.3% on 2023 (UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2025).

CTR 7°N 35°E · 1.0×

DRAG ROTATE · CLICK A POINT · +/− ZOOM

                LOWPUBLISHING INTENSITYHIGH
              

SURFACE: PER-COUNTRY EGDI, GODI, EDGAR
IATI SURFACE ILLUSTRATIVE · FIGURES SOURCED

Obs. 01. A global data observatory rendered as a single WebGL visual with the globe rasterised at runtime, discrete data points at real locations, a linked equirectangular overview, and figures for each dataset. Four datasets: IATI financial flows, e-government development, the Global Open Data Index, and the UNEP emissions gap. Heat patterns on the globe are illustrative; data points and figures are quoted from the cited sources as a static, referenced snapshot. Drag to rotate; scroll, pinch or use the buttons to zoom; click a data point to fly to it and open its profile. This observatory is a proof of concept. The figures are a dated snapshot, not a live feed; for current data see the original sources: IATI Country Development Finance Data, Code for IATI Analytics, UN E-Government Survey, Global Open Data Index, EDGAR (JRC), and UNEP Emissions Gap Report.

02 · PROFILE

Profile

I specialise in international development and data analysis, with a particular focus on open data initiatives and data visualisation. The work I care about most sits where those two meet: taking the information development organisations hold, publishing it in the open under shared standards, and turning it into analysis people can actually use.

The observatory in Obs. 01 is that idea made visible. Each of its four datasets is a type of data I have worked with in some form (the datasets themselves are not mine): financial flows published to IATI, e-government development, the openness of government data, and carbon accounting. The patterns on its surface are illustrative; the figures shown are quoted from the cited sources, at the snapshot date shown.

03 · WORK

Work

Financial Analysis Officer, Sightsavers

AUG 2025 TO PRESENT

I moved into financial analysis at Sightsavers in August 2025, after five years working on the organisation’s transparency and open data. I still look after its IATI data and transparency alongside the analysis work.

Transparency Officer, Sightsavers

APR 2020 TO AUG 2025

As Transparency Officer I enhanced organisational transparency through international open data frameworks.

I also played a key role in launching Sightsavers’ Carbon Reduction Plan and Carbon Footprint Report. I developed the emissions methodology for land travel and for transportation and distribution, contributed to the data collection and the calculations behind the report, and built the Power BI dashboard that reports the results.

04 · UNITED NATIONS

United Nations

I volunteered with the United Nations across roughly a decade, from 2016 to 2025, mostly in research and data. For the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs I carried out research for the Space for Development Profile. For UN DESA I contributed research to the E-Government Surveys, most recently the UN E-Government Survey 2026, a global benchmark of e-government development.

With UN OCHA I worked as a researcher and data reviewer on the Libya Humanitarian Needs Assessment, and for UNICEF Angola I contributed translation work.

05 · EDUCATION

Education

I hold a Master of Public Administration from the University of Birmingham, completed in 2023, covering public service delivery, democratic governance, financial management and digital-era management. Before that I took a BA in Globalisation: History, Politics and Culture at the University of Brighton, graduating in 2015.

06 · TOOLS

Tools

Day to day I work with Microsoft Power BI and Power Query, with open data standards (IATI above all), and with the ordinary craft of data analysis, data visualisation and research. In my spare time I design useful tools in various languages, mostly for Android.

07 · CONTACT

Contact

The quickest way to reach me is by email at lucasfogan@gmail.com. I am based in Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England.