Stories, ideas, and updates from DGers around the world

WASHINGTON—Development Gateway announces today that Jean-Louis Sarbib will serve as Chief Executive Officer following the departure of Mark Fleeton earlier this year.

WASHINGTON— Development Gateway announced today that it has redesigned the Accessible Information on Development Activities (AiDA) database to make information more accessible to users. The new design of the site helps give visitors a full picture of development activities as information is now grouped by country, sector, and donor. The site is visually more appealing, easier to use, automatically updated, and enables the visitor to save search results. “By adding these new features, we’ve made AiDA a more robust aid effectiveness tool,” said Riccardo De…

WASHINGTON—The Development Gateway announced today that it will showcase the results of the implementation of the Aid Management Platform (AMP) at the Accra High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, to be held from Sept. 2–4, 2008. Results of eight implementations of AMP show that the application can strengthen a country’s ownership and coordination of its aid process by building government capacity, empowering policy-makers, and by promoting regional knowledge sharing. Roughly 200 government staff members in Africa, Europe, and Latin America have completed advanced training in the…

WASHINGTON—The Development Gateway and ODAdata, two leading providers of aid information management systems, announced today that they have joined forces to provide effective, user-friendly, and results-driven applications to advance aid management and donor coordination efforts. This partnership leverages the expertise of both organizations, based on field operations in more than 12 countries. The new alliance will help unite and harmonize the efforts of member states of the European Union and others to advance aid effectiveness. Aid information management systems have been widely recognized as essential…

WASHINGTON—The Development Gateway Foundation announces today that Jean-Louis Sarbib will serve as chair of the board of directors. Mr. Sarbib succeeds Dr. Michael Hofmann, who stepped down in October 2007 “Jean-Louis has been a strong supporter of the role of information and communications technologies for development and the aid effectiveness agenda,” according to Mark Fleeton, CEO of the Development Gateway Foundation. Mr. Sarbib is managing director at Wolfensohn & Company, a private investment firm and a strategic advisor to corporations and governments. Previously, he held…

These new portals will provide a virtual space in which participants can share knowledge, best practices, and other relevant information. The purpose of this initiative is to build capacity, strengthen working relationships, and improve development outcomes. Particular emphasis will be placed on bringing together government agencies and international and nongovernmental organizations in developed and developing countries to discuss common challenges. "The cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China have reminded us all of the need for more effective knowledge sharing and partnership on these…

dgCommunities brings the latest information on key development topics to desktops around the world, helping members to be more effective in their work. Ms. Salazar uses it to access the latest information and best practices on gender issues. (Photo credit: Karl Grobl) Peru Teresa Salazar Davila is a petite, energetic woman based in Lima who identifies herself as an activist. She is a member of a women’s syndicate which works closely with the ministry of the interior to improve the status of women in Peruvian…

Thanks to Development Gateway Senegal and other organizations, Fallou Diagne is better able to meet his business needs. Senegal Fallou Diagne is the financial coordinator at Le Collectif des Groupements Associatifs de Pikine Ouest, a collective consisting of neighborhood development associations and cultural and athletic associations. In an attempt to better support his family, Diagne started diversifying his income-generating activities last year by offering essential products to the women of Pikine, a suburb of Dakar. To do so, however, he needed to use a computer,…

 Cremilide Mambo, director of land management of Gaza Province, center, with Elias Dique, right, project manager of the land management information system, and a technician, left, review information from the new digital application. Mozambique Land, and its proper management, is a central issue in developing countries. Accurate and accessible information is a necessary requirement for rural development. It makes possible the development of land, forests, and waterways in a sustainable manner that will contribute to the elimination of poverty. The digitization of a land…

 Staff from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development show visitors from Ghana how to use the aid management platform. Ethiopia Just two years ago, Ethiopia, one of the largest recipients of development assistance, lacked a system to manage the more than $1 billion in official aid that donors give each year. Today, that has changed. The once cumbersome system of spreadsheets has been replaced by the Aid Management Platform (AMP), an integrated system for tracking development assistance. AMP has helped transform aid management…