data.worldbank.org is launched today, containing a huge amount of development data which you can download and manipulate at no cost. The interfaces that have been developed mean that data can be mashed with other information; making useful analyses by individuals and organisations possible.
A brilliant initiative has recently been launched by InterAction and FortiusOne which will create a standard output format allowing NGO development projects to be easily mapped and compared – exactly the sort of approach and tools we need for aid transparency more widely.
Having been at the AidData conference in Oxford at the end of March, Soren Gigler writes about the need to think geographically about aid on Development Marketplace.
The first ever UK Aid Information Challenge took place last Saturday, 10th April in London at the Guardian newspaper. The aim was to see what would happen when aid data, aid practitioners, and some incredibly clever techies are brought together. Despite the sunshine outside, over 40 people joined us for 7 hours of enthusiastic "barcamping".
Publish What You Fund is excited and inspired by Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK). The first event in this initiative took place in Washington D.C. in November 2009, organised and and sponsored by NASA, Microsoft, Google and, Yahoo, SecondMuse and the World Bank. Bringing together disaster relief experts and software engineers, some great techie solutions to humanitarian emergencies were developed – examples can be found here.
