Moving into 2019, we are pleased to be expanding RDI alongside our growing set of partners and funders. The program’s third phase focuses on agency-level engagement, and we will be scaling our partnerships with these development agencies to use results data to inform critical policy and programmatic decisions.

To achieve data use, we must change how we approach, design, and implement M&E systems. At present, investments in M&E systems suffer from high levels of inefficiency, and there is a high rate of failure across implemented systems. In taking steps to improve how M&E systems are designed, and to achieve truly useful systems, Development Gateway is pleased to announce the release of our latest white paper, “The Custom Assessment and Landscaping Methodology: Balancing Accountability & Learning in M&E Systems.”

We know that evidence can lead to better outcomes. Yet despite spending upwards of USD $2.5 billion annually on collecting information about results – outcomes and impacts – research suggests these data are infrequently used.

We at Development Gateway invite you to discuss how we can address this gap, by making smarter agency and government-wide investments in results.

We know that Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) aims to support accountability and learning, in order to drive better outcomes. Through the Results Data Initiative (RDI), we’ve approached M&E with a critical eye – how can we better allocate M&E funding, and what results are we really striving for?

What does it take to design a platform to collect, manage, and analyze a country’s agricultural information? Ideally, a significant amount of time to speak with key data producers and intended data users to understand needs and achieve buy-in. But, as was our experience in Malawi, – it also requires a fair amount of humility and iteration.

This weekend marks the G7 Summit in Canada – as well as the first anniversary of Global Affairs Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. Over the past year, in Canada and elsewhere, we’ve seen the rights of women and girls grow in prominence across public and development discourse. 

Agriculture data being reported, collected, and visualized is growing exponentially. But are the data we’re spending so much to collect truly relevant for decision makers? We’re proud to announce that, through our Results Data Initiative (RDI), we’re working with Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MOAIWD) to design a National Agriculture Management Information System (NAMIS).

Last week, we shared our schedule for this week’s Data for Development Festival, hosted by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD)  in Bristol, UK.

Last month, the Results Data Initiative (RDI) convened its second cross-ministry co-design workshop -- surfacing new opportunities for the Government of Tanzania to put health data to use at the local level.

This post builds upon a DG contribution to the 2017 OECD Development Cooperation Report, launched on October 17, 2017.

All too often, discussions about managing for results in development fail to specify who is managing, what decisions they are authorized to make, or what results data are being used. Identifying the who and whats is critical, as this decision space informs what types of tools, processes, and information are needed by decision-makers to serve the why: achieving better outcomes.