Stories, ideas, and updates from DGers around the world

Kosovo Although it is the youngest country to have implemented the Aid Management Platform (AMP), Kosovo became a model for aid transparency by making its AMP available to the public online. Vanessa Goas, part of the Development Gateway team working on AMP Kosovo, shares a summary of her time in Pristina: Since fall 2009, Development Gateway has been working closely with the government and other stakeholders in Kosovo to establish the first comprehensive process and system for tracking aid information in this newly independent country.…

PRISTINA, Oct. 21, 2010 – At an international donors’ conference in 2008, more than 50 countries and international organizations pledged support to Kosovo’s socio-economic development. On Oct. 11, 2010, the Government of Kosovo and the European Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo (ECLO) launched the Aid Management Platform (AMP) at a public event in Pristina as part of a new program to support aid transparency and donor coordination. As a result, the government, its partners, and the public are now able to access information—including maps and…

Achieving global development objectives depends on involving stakeholders in aid-funded work, strengthening accountability of donor agencies and partner governments, and building country ownership. Yet sometimes even basic information such as the location of an aid project is difficult to find. Information on project locations is critical for determining whether aid is reaching areas of greatest need, as well as for avoiding duplication of effort within a country.

Laos For many at Development Gateway, the most engaging and rewarding aspect of our work is the time we spend in-country working with our partners and counterparts. Here, Travis Harvey reports back on a recent mission to Lao PDR: A team of two DG staff conducted a three-weeks mission to Lao PDR in August 2010 as part of the Aid Management Platform (AMP) implementation process. This is a multi-year program in partnership with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), with funding and support from…

Responding to a request from the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, the Development Gateway has partnered with other organizations to build a system to help with Hatian reconstruction. The joint system, which partially adapts Aid Management Platform technology, will track damage reports and donor funding as well as pledges to Haiti. “We see this tool as an important and critical component of Haiti’s reconstruction process,” said UN Resident Coordinator Nigel Fisher on the UN News Centre. In a speech on March 25th, former U.S. President…

Turkey I don’t have the resources to scour every newspaper and website for contract opportunities. Through the dgMarket connection my company was able to bid on and win four contracts in Romania. Can Kalelioglu, board member Eser Construction Company Turkey After experiencing economic downturn in Turkey, businessman Metin Erdogou wanted to create change. He established dgMarket Ihale Bilmi Merkezi — a nonprofit organization based in Istanbul — and worked with DGF to launch a Turkish-language version of the dgMarket global tender publishing system. “Government contracting…

The DC Central Kitchen is nonprofit organization that prepares 4,500 meals per day for DC’s homeless. The kitchen started in 1989 as an effort by Robert Egger to use surplus food from local businesses to feed the area’s homeless population. Since its creation, the kitchen has also begun to provide culinary training and a catering service. Michele Noukimi was assigned to chop and prepare vegetables. Noting the strict adherence to hygiene and precision, Michele was worried that the volunteers would not make it through the…

Development Gateway announced today the successful launch of the upgraded ODAnic and the release of the 2008 EU Blue Book. ODAnic is a publicly available online tool that facilitates donor coordination, aid transparency, and the management of aid information in Nicaragua. In the forward to the EU Blue Book, Martin Johnston, the representative for Central America from the U. K. Department for International Development (DFID) and Mendel Goldstein, the head of the European Commission’s delegation to Central America and Panama, wrote, “As a result [of…

Joint Venture to Build an In-depth Global Repository of Development Activities Development Gateway announces today its partnership with the interdisciplinary research team Project-Level Aid (PLAID). The two entities have come together to make detailed information on development finance more accessible and to create a comprehensive database on development activities. AidData will be available online in the spring of 2010. In the spirit of harmonization, this partnership builds on the distinct perspective of each team to bring greater efficiency and transparency to economic and social development…

 Staff members of the Ministry of Finance for the Democratic Republic of the Congo training to use the Aid Management Platform. By building a strong rapport with users in the ministries, Development Gateway increases the likelihood of program sustainability. Democratic Republic of Congo According to the Human Development Index, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ranks 177 out of 179 countries-firmly placing it as the third least developed nation in the world. In a country plagued by a civil war that has cost…