Stories, ideas, and updates from DGers around the world

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…

PRESS RELEASE New York, NY – April 23, 2012.  The Foundation Center and Development Gateway have announced a breakthrough partnership that will link their expertise in global philanthropy and global development to produce a clearer picture of international aid flows. Data from both organizations will power online platforms that will make collaboration between foundations, foreign aid agencies, and nonprofits more efficient and effective. The Foundation Center, based in New York City, maintains the most comprehensive body of current information on the activities of organized philanthropy.…

Development Gateway has received a grant from the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE) for EUR 600,000, to be used for a series of research and innovation activities over a three year period. M. Jean-Baptiste Mattei, Director-General for Globalization, Partnerships, and Development, and Jean-Louis Sarbib, CEO of Development Gateway, signed the agreement on March 15 at a ceremony in Paris. After signing the agreement, the parties discussed the activities to be funded under the grant in 2012, which will include work on data visualization and analytics and other areas.

Mapping aid activities is a powerful way to show what donors are doing and where, which could be a big help in division of labor discussions.

PRESS RELEASE