[open-development] World Bank and AidData put aid information on the map

Wed Apr 20 19:17:15 UTC 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*World Bank and AidData put aid information on the map*

*WASHINGTON, DC, April 20, 2011* – The World Bank has released maps of its
activities in 81 countries as part of the Mapping for Results
initiative<http://maps.worldbank.org>,
a partnership between the Bank and AidData <http://www.aiddata.org>.
The geocoded
data <http://open.aiddata.org/content/index/geocoding> represent more than
16,000 locations for over 2,700 active Bank activities across the world’s 79
poorest countries, as well as China and the Philippines.  The Mapping for
Results initiative is part of the World Bank Open Data
Initiative<http://data.worldbank.org>and is fully committed to open,
free and easy access to raw data. The
socioeconomic and geographic location data displayed on the Mapping for
Results platform can be downloaded, expanded, manipulated, and re-used
without restriction. All of the geographic location data can also be
accessed through the World Bank Open Data
API<http://data.worldbank.org/developers>
.

The projects were geocoded by a team led by AidData researchers, who
provided technical oversight and quality control for the geocoding process.
 AidData is a joint initiative of Brigham Young University<http://www.byu.edu>,
the College of William and Mary <http://www.wm.edu>, and Development
Gateway<http://www.developmentgateway.org>,
and seeks to make aid information more accessible and transparent,
particularly through a searchable database available at AidData.org.
 AidData contributed its expertise in standardizing and enhancing
project-level information on development activities to the Mapping for
Results partnership.

“The Mapping for Results initiative is a huge step toward empowering
citizens to hold donor and government officials accountable,” said
Jean-Louis Sarbib, CEO of Development Gateway.  “Ultimately, citizens want
to know how many vaccines are delivered, how many girls are able to attend
primary school, and so forth—information on aid activities is much more
powerful when it is transparent, easily accessible and understandable, and
can be linked to results on the ground.”

Today, AidData in cooperation with the World Bank
Institute<http://wbi.worldbank.org>launched
open.aiddata.org, a new toolkit for sharing, using, and interpreting aid
information.  At Open.AidData, others can download the UCDP/AidData
geocoding methodology
<http://open.aiddata.org/content/index/geocoding>developed by AidData
and Uppsala University in Sweden.  This methodology was
adapted for use in the Mapping for Results initiative and can be used by any
organization that wants to geo-enable its project data.  The methodology is
also consistent with the new aid information standard developed by the
International
Aid Transparency Initiative <http://iatistandard.org>, which makes it easier
for donors to share their information in a comparable, machine-readable
format so that it can be aggregated and analyzed.

According to Michael Findley, a principal investigator with AidData and
assistant professor at Brigham Young University, “It is becoming clear that
donors often give similar types of aid to the same regions or cities, even
if those locations are not always the areas of greatest need. If other
donors begin to map their projects as well, coordination problems could be a
thing of the past, allowing for development aid to reach those who need it
most.”

*About AidData*

AidData is a collaborative initiative to provide products and services that
promote the dissemination, analysis, and understanding of development
finance information. At the core of the AidData program is the AidData
database, which is a gateway to nearly 1 million records of development
finance activities from donors around the world.  AidData is a joint program
of Brigham Young University, the College of William and Mary, and
Development Gateway.  For more information, visit www.aiddata.org.

Contact: Emily Kallaur
+1-202-572-9200
ekallaur at developmentgateway.org

###
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/open-development/attachments/20110420/4127ce3c/attachment.html>