Photo Credit: Gabriel Inchauspe
Blog

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.

New Research Manuscript on Mortality from Tobacco Use in Kenya

DG is excited to announce the publication of a research manuscript on Mortality from Tobacco Use in Kenya in Tobacco-Induced Diseases. This research was carried out as part of the Tobacco Control Data Initiative (TCDI).

September 24, 2024 Health
Data Use, Program
Photo: Arne Hoel / World Bank
Mythbusters: Digital Public Infrastructure & Digital Public Goods

Although the international community has just now reached consensus on what digital public infrastructure is, there are still a lot of myths and misperceptions around the term, and the open-source technology that often powers it. In this blog, we’ll debunk some common myths we hear about DPI with facts, highlight some successes and failures, and show you some of the open-source DPI tools we’re following.

September 17, 2024 Digital Public Infrastructure
digital transformation, Thought Leadership
Episode 4, Season 3 | Expanding into Climate Action: How Every Organization has a Role to Play

In episode 4, Season 3 of “Data…for What?!,” host Vanessa Goas and special guest Roshan Paul, Former Director of Leadership Practice & Climate Talent Initiative at IREX, discuss the Climate Talent Initiative, which is IREX’s first in-house climate program.

September 10, 2024
Thought Leadership
Healthy Farming, Healthy Planet: The Environmental Case Against Tobacco Farming

While all agriculture has an environmental impact, tobacco is unique in that every stage of the tobacco lifecycle–from the production and consumption of tobacco to farming and disposal of the final product–wreaks havoc on the environment. In this piece, we’ll introduce the lifecycle of producing and using tobacco and explore the requisite environmental impact.

September 6, 2024 Agriculture, Health
Explainer
How useful is AI for development? Three things we learned from conversations with development experts

The development world is buzzing with excitement over the idea that new and emerging applications of artificial intelligence (AI) can supercharge economic growth, accelerate climate change mitigation, improve healthcare in rural areas, reduce inequalities, and more. But what does this look like in real life? 

September 3, 2024 Global Data Policy
Aid Effectiveness & Management, Thought Leadership
Episode 3, Season 3 | Context and Climate Action: A Conversation between the Local Development Research Institute and DG

In episode 3, Season 3 of “Data…for What?!,” DGer Charlene Migwe-Kagume and special guest Leonida (Leo) Mutuku discusses LDRI’s early warning system, an AI tool that is being used to enable farmers to plan and manage their harvest more effectively by using local and global data on weather patterns, crop yields, etc. 

August 20, 2024
Thought Leadership
Episode 2, Season 3 | The Great Green Wall: How Data Can Advance One of Africa’s Most Ambitious Efforts to Combat Climate Change

In episode 2, Season 3 of “Data…for What?!,” host Vanessa Goas and special guests former DGer Joshua Mbai and Gilles Amadou Ouédraogo, Programme Management Officer for the Great Green Wall Accelerator at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, discuss the Great Green Wall Initiative, the Great Green Wall Observatory, and how the the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and DG are committed supporting new and ongoing efforts aimed at combating climate change.

August 13, 2024
Thought Leadership
The Future of Technology Governance and Global Development: Why DG Brought DataReady In-house

DG is excited to announce we now have more robust data governance advisory services with the recent integration of DataReady.

August 7, 2024 Strategic Advisory Services
News/Events, Thought Leadership
Connecting Digital Dreams to Infrastructure Needs: Three Lessons from the aLIVE Program

After eighteen months of implementing the aLIVE program, we’ve learned three lessons on how to best support our partners in Ethiopia, advance our work in data systems and management, and ultimately, reach our overall goal of supporting Ethiopia in achieving food security and building a more robust, independent economy.

August 1, 2024 Agriculture
Program
Case Study: Fostering Sustainable Agriculture through Data-Driven Collaboration and Partnership: Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria

Through DG’s Visualizing Insights on Fertilizer for African Agriculture (VIFAA) program, we recently published a case study titled “Fostering Sustainable Agriculture through Data-Driven Collaboration and Partnership: Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria.” It dives deep into how the VIFAA program has impacted the fertilizer data and markets in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria. In this blog, we explore the overall impact that the VIFAA program is making, why the program was needed, and offer some key highlights from the case study.

July 23, 2024 Agriculture
Program