Making development data easier to gather, use, and understand

Since 2000, Development Gateway: An IREX Venture (DG) has built tools, systems, and dashboards that make development data easier to gather, use, and understand. We enhance transparency and efficiency in agriculture, health, extractives, information management, and cross-cutting global policy fields. Our partnerships with governments, institutions, and communities help ensure they have the information needed to make or shape decisions. We identify barriers to and solutions for increased data use, and apply in-the-weeds knowledge to incorporate rigorous learnings and inform the global community.

A Global Team

Meet Our Team

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Our Board of Directors

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Member of the Open Gov Hub Community

Our D.C. office is located at the Open Gov Hub, of which we are a founding member and anchor organization. The OpenGov Hub is an innovative, first-of-its-kind co-working space that brings together more than 80 organizations and over 300 individuals who are working to empower citizens to make their governments more accountable and open.

Our History

20 Years of DG

Nearly 20 years ago, DG began as an idea within the World Bank: How can we leverage the power of the internet to understand who is doing what, where, and to what effect?

After a period of incubation within the World Bank, DG was spun off and began creating global public goods: AiDA, dgMarket, dg Communities, and Country Gateways.

These resources aimed to make development information publicly available, where before it was held privately or costly to access. To address the problem of inaccessible and siloed information on international aid during this period, DG developed and piloted the Aid Management Program (AMP) in Ethiopia. AMP then expanded to 13 additional countries over the next several years.

To focus on achieving targeted impact, DG shifted focus toward country systems and data visualization.

AMP scaled from a few countries to nearly 25 and transitioned from an IT platform to a comprehensive, sustainable flagship program. In addition, DG co-founded AidData by merging AiDA with PLAID – a project of the College of William & Mary and Brigham Young University This partnership focused on gathering project-level aid information and created a core competency of partnering with researchers to bridge academic-policy and global-local divides. Through these projects, we learned how to effectively engage with and provide support to governments.

DG was one of the first technology-for-development organizations to think deeply about and challenge the level of data and technology uptake needed to create context-appropriate solutions, we began to focus on understanding data use.

Embedded in existing technology programming, and in stand-alone research initiatives, we began leveraging learnings to explore how and why data was – or was not – being used. We built on research methods from academic partners; combined them with practical experience implementing technical tools; and leveraged the deep trust gained by working with countries. Each project and partnership was an opportunity to further the global body of research and thinking on barriers to data uptake. This iterative approach – continually incorporating new techniques to drive actual data use in each project – has set us apart from purely technical providers. It has allowed us to develop an applied research portfolio and prioritize bigger picture thinking with the goal of translating on-the-ground learnings into policy-relevant messages on data use and strategies.

Our strategic direction builds on what we have learned from each successive wave of our evolution.

This vision is responsive to the shifting needs of the SDG agenda, positioning DG to support key global, national, and local actors. Additionally, we are increasingly incorporating a gender lens into program design and implementation.

Collaborate With Us

Our lasting impact is driven by partnerships with governments, organizations, and institutions.

Learn about Our Approach to Partnerships