Stories, ideas, and updates from DGers around the world

The Ministry of Planning and Investment of the Lao PDR released last week its annual Foreign Aid Implementation Report (FAIR) for the fiscal year 2011-2012. This year's FAIR is unique because it is the first FAIR report published by the Ministry to be comprised of Official Development Assistance (ODA) data entirely from the Aid Management Platform (AMP).

The AMP Best Practices Workshop, Development Gateway’s annual flagship event, took place for the fifth consecutive year in December 2012, in Dakar, Senegal. rnrnFocusing on development related themes such as transparency, accountability and results, the event attracts a growing number of participants from countries using the Aid Management Platform (AMP), donors and partner organisations. Since the first event, organised in Nairobi in 2008, the AMP family has grown to 22 countries1, spread over four continents.

The Open Development Technology Alliance (ODTA) aims to enhance accountability and improve the delivery and quality of public services through technology-enabled citizen engagement. The ODTA is an initiative of The World Bank, anchored by the World Bank Institute, the Social Development Department and the ICT Sector Unit of The World Bank.

I am Stephen Davenport and this year I took a stab at fantasy football, which is like other fantasy sports (FIFA Soccer, Baseball, etc.), where you select individual players using statistics and form virtual teams that compete each week against other virtual teams in a pseudo league. It's for sports fanatics.

Development Gateway is pleased to announce that we will be extending the implementation of the Aid Management Program with the government of Honduras, thanks to the support of UNDP Honduras, the European Union, and the Canadian International Development Agency. We will continue the implementation of the AMP (or PGC in Spanish) to support the government’s commitment to increase the efficiency of aid and to make aid information more transparent.rnrnDG will build on the last year of work with Honduras to:

The Strauss Center's program on Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) analyzes how climate change could impact African and international security. Program research explores the drivers of climate insecurity, links between climate change and conflict, national responses to shocks and conflict, and the impact of adaptation aid responses.

You may not have been aware of the fact that AidData and Development Gateway have a program that offers governments the opportunity to have in-depth, in-country support for an extended period of time. Aid Management Fellows work directly with country governments that are using Development Gateway’s Aid Management Program (AMP) to improve the process and systems involved, and ensure accurate, complete, and up-to-date data.

This week the World Bank launched Send Money Africa, a website that empowers African migrants with information to compare the costs of different services for sending money to their home countries. Development Gateway created Send Money Africa for the World Bank using the Send Money Service toolkit, a platform for making remittance price data more transparent via internet, smart phones, and via SMS.

I am Owen Scott and recently I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend the Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB Canada) National Conference in Calgary. EWB Canada - no affiliation with EWB USA - is a progressive development organization focused on creating transformative change in African markets, public sectors, and civil society through supporting a continuously evolving portfolio of innovative ideas and ventures.

The 7th edition of the European Development Days (EDDs) took place in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2012. Organised by the European Commission, the EDDs is the main forum on international affairs and development cooperation in Europe. The forum serves as a veritable melting pot of development advocates, decision-makers and practitioners, bringing together some 6,000 people and 1,500 organisations annually to learn from each other’s best practices, discuss and network.