AidData is proud to announce the launch of the AidData Center for Development Policy and initial five-year, $25-million funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The AidData Center for Development Policy is a joint venture between the College of William and Mary, Development Gateway, Brigham Young University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Esri to increase global aid transparency. The AidData Center for Development Policy will create geospatial data and tools that enable USAID and the broader global development community to more effectively target, coordinate, deliver, and evaluate the impact of aid.
The award from USAID is the largest ever received by AidData, a partnership between the College of William and Mary, Development Gateway, and Brigham Young University that provides the largest public access database on project-level development finance in the world.
The new AidData Center for Development Policy will be headquartered at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and support an innovation lab at OpenGov Hub, the collaborative workspace and Development Gateway headquarters in Washington, DC.
Brad Parks, AidData's Co-Executive Director at William & Mary, believes that the creation of the AidData Center for Development Policy will “fundamentally change the way that foreign assistance is targeted, coordinated, monitored, and evaluated.
“The Center will build a global network of geographers, economists, political scientists, computer scientists, and statisticians who are committed to helping USAID and other development agencies reduce the cost and increase the impact of their aid programs,” Parks said.
Stephen Davenport, AidData's Co-Executive Director from Development Gateway, says, "The AidData Center for Development Policy will have an impact well beyond traditional donor boundaries. The data, visual analytics, and research produced by the The AidData Center for Development Policy will level the playing field among donors, recipient governments, and citizens by providing access to actionable aid information.”
The AidData Center for Development Policy is part of USAID’s Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN)—a groundbreaking partnership with seven leading American and foreign universities will develop innovative solutions to global development challenges.
“The Higher Education Solutions Network is the latest step in USAID's efforts to harness the best ideas from the academic and scientific community and young people worldwide to foster transformational progress in development,” explained USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah. “By collaborating with top universities around the world, we hope to tap today’s brightest minds and focus ingenuity on global development challenges.”
To learn more about this program, please go to the AidData Center for Development Policy homepage.