Stories, ideas, and updates from DGers around the world

We are always looking for new people to add to Development Gateway's deep roster of talented staff to increase our impact. We're proud to announce that we’ve added several key staff to help us expand and manage our diverse programs.

Development Gateway is pleased to announce that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded the College of William and Mary, Development Gateway, Brigham Young University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Esri, a five-year, $25-million cooperative agreement to increase global aid transparency through the AidData Center for Development Policy.

Development Gateway is pleased to announce that we will be implementing the Aid Management Program with the government of Moldova thanks to the generous support of UNDP Moldova.rnrnWe will leverage our experience working on aid management in over 20 different countries around the world to support the government’s commitment to share information on external assistance to enhance its effectiveness, transparency and mutual accountability. rnrnThe Moldova AMP will assist the government of Moldova in their efforts to:

Co-working spaces, or Hubs, come in all shapes and sizes and typically have snazzy themes; incubator, accelerator, meet up, etc. They are also all the rage, popping up everywhere from the US to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Although the ambitions and intent behind each hub are noble and good, these initiatives often struggle both operationally and financially.rnrnWhy is the OpenGov Hub different?

I am Stephen Davenport, Director of Innovation at Development Gateway, and recently I attended my first Open Knowledge event, the OKFestival in Helsinki Finland. As a development professional with a technology background I am often skeptical of such events as too soft a subject. What is knowledge anyway? It’s too generic. It’s too easy to immerse yourself in the theoretical and loose sight of the practical.

The Developing Capacities for Effective Aid Management and Coordination (DCEAMC) project commenced in February 2009 with one of its objectives to put in place a transparent and functioning aid information management system for Nepal. The project is managed by the Foreign Aid Coordination Division (FACD) of the Ministry of Finance in Nepal and funded by UNDP, DFID and DANIDA. Key Government partners include the Ministries of Education, Health and Local Development and the National Planning Commission.

The Strauss Center's Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) program has released a new aid dashboard that includes an interactive map and graphing tools, allowing users to explore trends in aid allocation by donor, sector, and demographics across Africa. The dashboard is a collaborative effort that includes geocoded aid data from CCAPS and several partner institutions. AidData and CCAPS built the aid dashboard using Esri tools to combine trends analysis with the most comprehensive collection of geocoded data on aid projects in Africa.

Development Gateway and Global Integrity are thrilled to announce plans for the new OpenGov Hub, an endeavor to bring like-minded organizations together in one physical location to work on issues related to the open government agenda. The OpenGov Hub will be housed in Development Gateway’s current headquarters in Washington, DC, and will open officially in September.

The Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) program launched Version 2.0 of the CCAPS mapping tool this week, adding the full Social Conflict in Africa Database, and updating the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset (ACLED) with events through 2012.

This Story from the Field comes from Stephen Davenport, Development Gateway’s Senior Director for Business Development/Partnerships: In April and May, I had the opportunity to represent Development Gateway at three events focused on transparency. One of these events was the Open Aid Partnership (OAP) Workshop in Stockholm. The event was very hands on. There were about 25-30 participants who each brought datasets of their activities in different parts of the world. My colleague, Josh Powell, did a great job co-leading (with our partners at the…