Global Development Commons
Administrator Henrietta Fore has launched a bold initiative on the Global Development Commons (GDC). This initiative will bring together the ground-breaking changes taking place in development with the rapid advancements in information technology and web communication.
The GDC is the space where development actors unite - physically and virtually - to gather and exchange ideas and services, communicate, and form partnerships. The GDC will unite all those with a stake in development - from end-users/beneficiaries to governments, to partners, to citizens - into a seamless and accessible network, making it easier for developing countries and their citizens to find solutions and resources that match their development needs.
The GDC builds and improves on the existing development information architecture (websites, portals, blogs, chat rooms, conferences, gatherings, etc.) to create a comprehensive network that allows users to search for information, facilitate dialogue, and trade or exchange products and ideas. The physical components of the GDC - meetings and forums such as global HIV/AIDS conferences and joint donor-recipient country planning processes - will gather relevant stakeholders to discuss and share ideas with members of the commons. When these communities are linked together, they create a landscape of existing development-oriented information sites (both physical and virtual).
No entity or individual "owns" the GDC, instead USAID and other development stakeholders are all part shareholders of the GDC. The ownership model envisioned is more like that associated with Wikipedia where some stakeholders will be more active than others. The GDC must be a shared responsibility with its own identity management. USAID will help launch, publicize, and facilitate the GDC and actively seek partners to scale it up worldwide.
Speech: Administrator Fore at the InterAction 2008 Closing Plenary
"I believe this means we must do business differently. I'd ask you to consider how we might resolve this paradox of growing complexity in assistance. It won't be settled simply through structural changes, more funding, or new legislation.
No, I would submit that the key to easing complexity is knowledge. And the knowledge I consider most critical--in the global context in which we must all operate together--is shared between the donors and contractors, agencies and NGOs [non-governmental organizations], host governments, private sector interests and foundations all trying to make a difference. It is the knowledge of what works, of what is best practice, of what is delivering results.
In Africa, we are working with public and private sector partners, and African education leaders, to launch an Education Commons. USAID was one of the early supporters of an education portal for Zambian teachers that provides them with online and in-service training, electronic library access, and peer-to-peer best practice sharing. This portal also connects Ministry of Education officials with their counterparts in the provinces and directly with teachers.
Our goal is simple: to help reinforce the government's own strong commitment to universal primary education by 2015. But the partnership pursuing this goal is remarkable. It involves a range of in-country and international government agencies like UNESCO... leading private sector companies and foundation like Sun Microsystems, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation... and InterAction members like the International Reading Association, and the Academy for Educational Development.
We see this portal as precisely the kind of technology that will become part of a larger Global Development Commons: a community of continuous and real-time information exchange, coordination, partnership and action between public and private donors, agencies, NGOs, host governments and civil society--all in constant collaboration. A Global Development Commons gives people in the developing world the tools they need to lead their own development."
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT COMMONS - CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
On March 21, 2008, USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore responded to a series of articles written in the Christian Science Monitor by Mark Lange on international development. She said:
"The entire world has come to hope and expect that international development will knit us together as a human family, helping those in need by fighting global poverty. Resources are an important part of the solution. US assistance for developing nations rose from about $10 billion in 2000 to $24 billion today. A missing piece, however, is a forum where concerned actors from all walks of life can come together to exchange ideas and forge solutions for the toughest problems. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the Global Development Commons to wrestle with the kinds of questions raised in Mr. Lange's thought-provoking articles. Henrietta H. Fore
Washington
Administrator, USAID
See Mark Lange's articles here
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT COMMONS - WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
In January of 2008, USAID Administrator Henrietta H. Fore traveled to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF):
Click here to view the Administrators YouTube video highlighting the Global Development Commons:
Administrator Fore hosted a Global Development Commons' discussion and side event at the WEF to engage private sector leaders concerning the use of information sharing technology to advance development.
Click below to view larger images of the Global Development Commons discussion:
Administrator Fore discusses the GDC with private sector and academic leaders.
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GDC discussion participants discuss the role of technology to advance development
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Administrator Fore discusses various GDC ideas with participants
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For background on the Global Development Commons, please see the following files:
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