AidData—a joint initiative of Brigham Young University, the College of William and Mary, and nonprofit organization Development Gateway—captures and interprets development data to support aid activities. Development Loop integrates project data from the World Bank and African Development Bank with success stories, development indicators, and relevant local information on an interactive map. Future enhancements, such as social media integration and free mobile offerings, will facilitate place-based feedback loops among donors, development professionals, and aid recipients.
Through the app challenge, AidData hopes to encourage donor organizations to collaborate in building a comprehensive picture of development efforts and a dynamic platform on which to plan, analyze, and evaluate projects.
“Development Loop goes far beyond depicting where and how funds are being spent,” says Stephen Davenport, senior director for business development at Development Gateway. “It can open the lines of communication and track funding as it moves from one organization to another to the intended beneficiary. It makes projects more empowering and efficient and establishes a platform for sustainable workflows that can be incorporated into existing reporting processes.”
The Development Loop prototype is built on Esri’s ArcGIS API for Microsoft Silverlight/WPF and ArcGIS Server technology. World Bank and African Development Bank activity data was geocoded through the Mapping for Results project, a partnership between AidData and the World Bank.
Organizations interested in integrating project information into Development Loop may contact AidData at [email protected] or Salim Sawaya of Esri at [email protected]. To learn more about Esri, visit esri.com. For information on AidData, visit aiddata.org.
