[open-development] Big steps forward in the US

Fri Dec 17 16:44:14 UTC 2010

Hi Tariq, and thank you for forwarding that.

Well, pt 4 on our Christmas wish list has 2 tentative idea associated (in
the US context), and we'd love feedback on how to make them work.  I will
be meeting the relevant group of official about this on Monday, so any
thoughts would be very much appreciated.

1. The budget office (OMB) sets up a fund for line ministries and agencies
to be able to get money from to fund transparency/disclosure improvements

2. The interagency processes puts aside a pot to give to 'infomediaries'
to build stuff and join up the three groups of people needed to build
stuff (people who know the data, people who can code and people who have
questions to ask of the data).
(held by the F Bureau in state department perhaps)

Karin
-----Original Message-----
From: Tariq Khokhar [mailto:tariq.khokhar at devinit.org]
Sent: 17 December 2010 12:54 PM
To: Karin Christiansen; open-development at lists.okfn.org
Subject: Re: [open-development] Big steps forward in the US

Dear Karin,

Thanks for sharing this; an important step indeed.

If you missed it, check out PWYF's blog post on this here:

http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/news/2010/12/us-launches-foreign-assista
nc
e-dashboard/

In particular the "Christmas wish list" for version 2.0 of the dashboard:

---

* Build in data comparability to other donors, but particularly to
recipient
country systems so taxpayers in both donor and recipient countries can see
the impact of their efforts in relation to others.

* Clarify who gives and who gets what: separating out activities from
USAID
and State Department in the short term as well as the other agencies as
they
are added

* Letąs get the data to project level and disbursement across agencies

* Support others to use the data  donąt try and make the dashboard the
only
way to explore the data, but democratise it by supporting and encourage
others to build websites, dashboards and ways of exploring the
information.

---

These are important points. I hope/expect the project-level data
comparability will evolve through engagement with IATI. I'm particularly
keen to see user and community support for using this data. I  worry that
open data contests and hackdays are often seen as the only show in town.

I'm keen to hear about ideas this group has for supporting and
"encouraging
others to build websites, dashboards and ways of exploring the
information."

With kind regards,

Tariq

On 17/12/2010 12:29, "Karin Christiansen"
<karin.christiansen at publishwhatyoufund.org> wrote:

> Dear Open Development members,
>
> There have been two significant steps forward in the U.S. this week that
> affect aid transparency and access to information.
>
> The long-awaited Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review was
published on
> Wednesday 15th. In a major step, aid transparency has been promoted to
one of
> the 6 key Foreign Assistance Effectiveness Principles. The role of
> transparency and technology to enhance accountability, ownership and
results
> are key themes running through the document. We look forward to the
reportąs
> implementation.
>
> And yesterday, the U.S. Government launched the new Foreign Assistance
> Dashboard. This new website is a tool to disclose, visualize and allow
people
> to explore U.S. aid information. It responds to the principles of the
Paris
> Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, steps agreed in the Accra Agenda for
Action
> and President Obamaąs Open Government Initiative focusing on making
government
> transparent, participatory and collaborative.
>
> The most important and exciting thing about the site is that it is the
> beginning of more and better things to come. This is the first output of
an
> important interagency transparency process working to develop a common
> framework and publish aid information, documents and data across all of
the
> agencies providing foreign assistance.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Karin

Tariq Khokhar
Technology Innovation Analyst

Mob:  +44 (0) 7896 442055
Skype: tariq.khokhar
Email: tariq.khokhar at devinit.org

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