Posts categorized Innovation

Have you ever wondered how the software you use gets built? We at Development Gateway use the “Scrum” approach to develop our software. Scrum is a group of software development methods that wrap around existing engineering practices...

Based on data from the World Bank, found here, there are an estimated 60 more million men than women on this planet. This difference is the highest ever recorded and is driven by preference for sons in India and China. Case closed, no need to do further analysis right? Well not so fast...

Next week, Development Gateway will be attending the Cartagena Data Festival – an event bringing together development partners, technical implementers, and civil society organizations to help solve “critical gaps in coverage, access, and analysis of data.”

'The United States made a big move when it announced DJ Patil as the First US Chief Data Scientist. Patil was at the Strata + Hadoop World Conference when Barack Obama announced the decision via video call before Patil spoke to the audience about Data Science: Where Are We Going. The video can be found here and it is definitely worth watching the 13 minutes as he explains the impacts of data in government.'

Foreign aid dollars promote peace and security – or do they? This is the fundamental tenet underlying huge amounts of development financing, driven by studies showing that higher household wealth can mean reduced violence or that targeted spending may undermine rebel groups who win allegiance by providing social services.

Parents, teachers, governments, and social welfare organizations all want to provide children with the best education possible. In most places, these groups work together to allocate resources, build schools and improve the quality of education. But education officials, organizations and families need information to guide these efforts. Sometimes even the most basic school information – like school location, fees, class size, or even building types – is completely unavailable, inaccessible, or out of date.

'Since the introduction of a US Open Data Policy in 2013, domestic agencies - particularly in the foreign assistance sector - have made great strides in opening up their financial, programmatic, and evaluation information. As recently highlighted by the Center for Global Development:'

In part 1, we took stock of progress made and missing pieces to flesh fully the data revolution. With that in mind, what are some of the major challenges for the development community in launching a Geospatial Data Revolution?1) Matching data to Government needs

(This is part 1 of a two-part series on the role of sub-national data and country systems in the Data Revolution. Part 1 discusses the progress made during the MDG process and what challenges are ahead over the next 15 years of the SDGs. Part 2 will discuss what is needed to put countries in the driver’s seat of the SDG process, to ensure that the beneficiaries of the data revolution are the ones who need it most.)How far have we come?

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. While the disaster has faded from the news cycle, the Government of Haiti, donor agencies, and citizens are still walking down the road of reconstruction. As individuals involved in this effort, today of all days we should stop to ask:“What is my role in this recovery process, and how well am I performing in that capacity?”