Stories, ideas, and updates from DGers around the world

Logistics – broadly defined as the services and processes needed to move goods and services from production to consumption – is a cornerstone for economic efficiency and expansion. High-quality, interconnected roads and ports can make the transportation of goods easier, and boost domestic productivity.

'As we celebrate today the spookiest holiday of the year – complete with zombies and vampire galore – we wanted to bring to light another sort of zombie invasion, one which has plagued the tech sector for many years. The OpenGov Hub hosted a Brown Bag Lunch earlier this month, Attack of the Zombie Projects: Why Do NGOs Keep Building Lousy Technology? to discuss the recurrent reappearance of “zombie” projects in the NGO and tech space.'

We at Development Gateway have had the privilege of working in 25 different countries through our Aid Management Program (AMP). These countries are spread throughout so many different regions – West Africa, East Africa, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Balkans, the Caribbean, and Central America; their experiences vary widely, yet they often encounter similar difficulties and share many of the same goals and aspirations.

On World Development Information Day, DG reports on the future of the International Aid Transparency Initiative, a global campaign that encourages donors and governments to make aid information open and accessible.

On 25 September, the city of Cape Town explicitly recognized the importance of making city government data accessible to the public with the approval of an Open Data Policy. The policy lays out a plan to make data centrally accessible through the development of an open data portal – with the goal of increasing transparency and empowering citizens to hold the government accountable.

After the 2014 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, below are some key questions and takeaways on how open data, development finance, and diverse stakeholders mix:Why do we need to publish data?

The Independent Expert Advisory Group on the “Data revolution for development” is giving you only a few days to share your views on what a “revolution” should look like. So here’s your chance to be a revolutionary, channel your inner Beatle per the Data Revolution Group, and act quickly because the deadline is October 15th!

One of the biggest challenges facing a complex entity like the United Nations Development Group (UNDG) is how to coordinate efforts across the 32 agencies, departments, and programs that play a role in the UN’s development work. Coordination means collecting and standardizing data from dozens of offices managing thousands of activities to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, coherence and relevance of UN development assistance.

Since its very beginning, Development Gateway has been committed to open data initiatives, and without a doubt great strides have been made in open data acceptance and adoption. More and more development organizations, practitioners, and national governments have begun publishing all sorts of programmatic and financial information.

What will it take to transform data and technology into improved development outcomes?