Development Gateway is built upon the foundations of the twenty-first century: the Internet. The organization’s founders believe that empowering others with simply the opportunity to connect and share information to leverage resources is the key to poverty alleviation. According to the Development Gateway 2011 Annual report, “technology brings information to life and enables everyone from policymakers to citizens to engage in efforts to strengthen their communities.
Development Gateway operates under the objective to provide low cost access to development resources for people around the world. Instead of funding large, on-the-ground projects overseen by powerful decision-makers in developed nations, Development Gateway empowers citizens on the ground with the knowledge to lift themselves out of poverty. According to Mary O’Kane, Chair of Board of Directors, “It is clear that the days of top-down development, with resources and planning controlled by a handful of powerful actors, are over…Against this backdrop, Development Gateway’s role connecting development workers and citizens with easily accessible and usable information, and acting as a convener of like-minded organizations – is more relevant than ever.”
In the past, Development Gateway has partnered with IBM, Microsoft, Intel, the World Bank, the United Nations and wide variety of governments around the world to produce programs and platforms to suit their needs. Development Gateway’s programs focus in three areas: governance, knowledge and networking, and transparency and accountability.
In order to govern well, leaders require the most up-to-date information. Development Gateway’s information management solution allows citizens and leaders to engage in a mutually beneficial dialogue at low costs, which democratizes the development process. Additionally, Development Gateway provides institutional strengthening programs to create a stable infrastructure for years to come. In its Aid Management Program, Development Gateway provides software tools and institutional strengthening activities that improve the availability of aid information at the national level. The program has been implemented in over 20 nations and is used to record billions in official aid flows.
Development Gateway utilizes advanced data management and collaboration tools to provide information solutions for practitioners from around the world to learn from one another, keep up-to-date on the latest research and coordinate innovative solutions. One such solution is known as Zunia. Zunia is a database for a variety of resources resources including articles, reports, and research related to development. Zunia helps development workers around the world to share knowledge, discuss challenges, and find solutions together. Another such program to increase knowledge and networking was the Teamworks platform, which was built for the United Nations family of organizations and is now used by over 35 UN agencies. The Teamworks platform, like Development Gateways other forms of knowledge sharing tools, eliminates the costs of duplicate or wasted efforts due to miscommunication and supports a more collaborative environment for geographically dispersed organizations.
Without real-time feedback and transparency, stakeholders have no way of being held accountable for providing results to those in charge. Accordingly, Development Gateway provides transparency and accountability in its programs by tracking development finances, publishing aid information, and creating mobile apps for on the ground feedback. In 2005, Development Gateway partnered with the World Bank, the United Nations, the OCED, and the governments of Ethiopia and India to create the Aid Management Platform (AMP). The recently-developed Aid Management Platform mobile app (AMP 2.0) allows users to access data and report progress on aid-funded projects on-the-go. Overall, Development Gateway expects AMP and other similar mobile apps to create a feedback loop between donors, governments and other stakeholders. In addition, Development Gateway has worked with the World Bank in its Mapping for Results initiative, to geocode all of the World Bank’s activities around the world.
According to the World Bank’s OED, which works closely with Development Gateway, the organizations process of program development and further refinement is what makes Development Gateway different, if not more efficient, than other organizations. The value of Development Gateway’s programs “lies not only in what is delivered, but also in learning about effective models and processes for using the Internet in order to extend the Bank’s and the development community’s capacity to affect knowledge sharing and development effectiveness.”
– Kelsey Ziomek
Sources: Development Gateway, World Bank
Photo: Development Gateway
