You may not have been aware of the fact that AidData and Development
Gateway have a program that offers governments the opportunity to have
in-depth, in-country support for an extended period of time. Aid Management
Fellows work directly with country governments that are using Development
Gateway’s Aid Management Program to improve the process and systems involved,
and ensure accurate, complete, and up-to-date data.
What does an Aid Management Fellow do?
As you would suspect, the Aid Management Platform (AMP), as a
data-driven system, is only as good as the data it maintains. Aid Management
Fellows are experienced and trained to recognize data gaps and limitations, and
ways to then improve and strengthen it. Government counterparts are then able
to learn from the Fellow how to better analyze and maintain the system
themselves. Some AMPs include high involvement from donor partners. In this
case, Fellows help train donor partners to ensure that quality information is
provided from the beginning, as well as share with them how the AMP can be used
for their own benefit. The Fellow is also able to help improve outputs from the
system.
Since Fellows have a background in aid data and analysis, they are
able to improve government use of the data, including improving reports for
internal planning and management, as well as reports for use among donor
partner groups, sector working groups, and the general public. My name is Taryn
Davis, and I had the great opportunity of being one of these Fellows in the Lao
PDR. I worked with the Ministry of Planning and Investment Aid Effectiveness
Division on improving their annual foreign aid report by including the
information collected in the AMP. It was amazing to see what additional
analysis was possible, and the types of questions we were able to answer with
the data that was now available. For example, the Director of the Aid
Effectiveness Division wanted to know about projects that had run past their
projected closed date. We were able to locate these projects and analyze the
length of time they were over-running the planned close date, the cumulative
undisbursed balances and average disbursement rates, and analyzed this
information by sector.
How is this helpful?
Countries benefit from having intensive support from experts with
data management experience that are then able to apply this specifically to the
government’s needs. The Aid Management Fellow essentially becomes an expert for
that country’s AMP data, working with government counterparts to maintain and
improve data quality, derive new insights from the data to inform
policy-making, and conduct outreach efforts with donors and partners.
Fellows remain in-country working with the government for three to
nine months, providing steady support for the program. On top of the hard,
data-driven skills that my experience helped solidify; one of the great things
I enjoyed was being able to work with our government counterparts on a
day-to-day basis. Sitting in the office with my counterparts day after day for
four months was very different from one or two week trips or Skype calls. Not
only are the major things discussed, but there is time for the small
intricacies. Plus, there is a camaraderie that is established once you’ve
killed enough mosquitoes together. From experience, I can say both parties
benefit from the strengthened relationship created through increased
face-to-face interaction.
While new countries may profit from
a Fellow while they get the program running and help with implementation, countries
that have had the AMP in place for a while can benefit from receiving data
validation, process analysis, and output support based on the processes already
in place.
Where has this been used?
So far Fellows have supported both
the Kosovo and Laos governments. Several other partner countries are also
expecting to take advantage of this program in 2013.
If you would like to learn more about the Aid Management Fellowship program or are interested in becoming a fellow yourself, contact Vanessa Goas of Development Gateway.
If you would like to learn more about the Aid Management Fellowship program or are interested in becoming a fellow yourself, contact Vanessa Goas of Development Gateway.
