Stories, ideas, and updates from DGers around the world
The Development Gateway: An IREX Venture blog is where DGers share specific learnings, offer thought-provoking insights, and pose challenging questions for the sustainable development community derived from our work.
Our blog has a deep archive going back to 2005. Each post is a snapshot into our work, priorities, and values.
Democratizing Digital or Digitizing Democracy in 2025?
The line between democratizing digital and digitizing democracy is increasingly blurred. This blog explores how applying democratic principles to digital governance can strengthen trust and ensure technology truly serves people.
Digital Sovereignty & Open-Source: The Unlikely Duo Shaping DPI
In 2025, digital sovereignty and open source have become an unlikely duo, opening paths to more resilient DPI. This blog reflects on the value of open-source data exchange and the conditions needed to enable it.
The Need for Health Taxes to Raise Revenues
With aid declining and fiscal pressures rising, countries face widening gaps in funding essential services. This blog explores how health taxes can help bridge the gap, drawing on insights from DG, TJNA, and WHO at the Financing for Development Conference.
From Data to Impact: Why Data Visualization Matters in Agriculture
This blog explores why data alone isn’t enough; what matters is turning it into usable insights. In agriculture, where decisions have lasting impacts, user-friendly tools help farmers and policymakers alike make better choices.
Introducing The HackCorruption Civic Tech Tools Repository
Introducing the Civic Tech Tools Repository: an open-source hub of digital solutions to fight corruption. Designed for growth through GitHub contributions, it brings together tools, code, and resources across six key areas for HackCorruption teams and beyond.
From Standardization to Specificity: Localizing Multi-Country Research
Multi-country research must balance consistency with local realities. While standardization allows reliable comparisons and generalizable insights, local context shapes outcomes. This blog explores how programs can strike that balance effectively.
Defining Decision-Making: Connecting the Dots Between Data and Impact
Strong, data-driven decision-making is critical for transforming the livestock sector and achieving national goals for food security and economic growth. However, we often talk about what is needed to enable strong decisions and the potential outcomes of data-driven decision-making without connecting the dots. What decisions are we actually talking about, between the data on one end and the impact on the other? What does data-driven decision-making actually entail?
Harnessing the Power of Data: Tackling Tobacco Industry Influence in Africa
Reliable, accessible data is essential for effective tobacco control, enabling policymakers to implement stronger, evidence-based responses to evolving industry tactics and public health challenges. This blog explores how Tobacco Industry strategies hinder effective Tobacco control in Africa, and highlights how stakeholders are harnessing TCDI Data to counter industry interference.
The Future of Food Systems: Spotlight on Ethiopia
When we discuss food systems, we are not just talking about farms; we are referring to the entire food supply chain. We are talking about how people eat, live, and navigate an increasingly volatile climate. This blog post analyzes Ethiopia's national food systems strategy as an example of where UNFSS can go next in strengthening food security globally.
Beyond Kigali: Where Does Africa Go from Here with AI?
As governments, funders, entrepreneurs, and technology leaders rally around the AI moment and move towards actions, at Development Gateway, we are asking a different set of questions: Where is the data, and what is the quality of the data behind the algorithms? How will legacy government systems feed AI tools with fresh and usable data? Are Government ministries resourced to govern and trust the AI tools that they are being encouraged to adopt?