DevInfo

Last updated
DevInfo
Founded2001 (2001)
Area served
Worldwide
Website DevInfo.org

DevInfo [1] was a database system developed under the auspices of the United Nations and endorsed by the United Nations Development Group for monitoring human development with the specific purpose of monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), [2] which is a set of Human Development Indicators. DevInfo [3] was a tool for organizing, storing and presenting data in a uniform way to facilitate data sharing at the country level across government departments, UN agencies and development partners. It was distributed royalty-free to all UN member states. It was a further development of the earlier UNICEF database system ChildInfo.

United Nations Intergovernmental organization

The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization responsible for maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and being a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in the world. The UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City; other main offices are in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna and The Hague.

Millennium Development Goals eight international development goals for the year 2015 by the United Nations

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. All 191 United Nations member states at that time, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help achieve the following Millennium Development Goals by 2015:

  1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. To achieve universal primary education
  3. To promote gender equality and empower women
  4. To reduce child mortality
  5. To improve maternal health
  6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
  7. To ensure environmental sustainability
  8. To develop a global partnership for development

Royalty-free (RF) material subject to copyright or other intellectual property rights may be used without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use, per each copy or volume sold or some time period of use or sales.

Contents

The Global DevInfo Initiative, led by UNICEF on behalf of the UN system, is dedicated to furthering human development by offering information technology-based solutions aimed at addressing development-related challenges. This is achieved by integrating management information systems, geographic information systems, software training, technical support services, data dissemination solutions and technical publications. The DevInfo Initiative takes a strategic approach towards strengthening the monitoring and evaluation capacity of governments and agencies by developing innovative technological solutions to better track human development progress.

Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data, or information, often in the context of a business or other enterprise. IT is considered to be a subset of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system is generally an information system, a communications system or, more specifically speaking, a computer system – including all hardware, software and peripheral equipment – operated by a limited group of users.

Description and history

The DevInfo Initiative supported a vision of a day when national and local governments use internationally accepted common database standards for tracking human development indicators, containing high-quality data with adequate coverage and depth to sustain good governance around the agenda of achieving development goals.

DevInfo strived to add value to national statistics systems by complementing existing databases and bridging data dissemination gaps, with the objective of more fully engaging both government and civil society in policy choices for human development that yield measurable results.

Statistics Study of the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data

Statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, displaying, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or social problem, it is conventional to begin with a statistical population or a statistical model to be studied. Populations can be diverse groups of people or objects such as "all people living in a country" or "every atom composing a crystal". Statistics deals with every aspect of data, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments. See glossary of probability and statistics.

DevInfo implementation is supported by trained experts at the country, regional, and global levels, and through support services provided by the DevInfo Support Group consisting of international staff located around the world.

Since DevInfo was retired in 2015, the home page has a DevInfo Data Request Form for authorized national statistical agency administrators to request migration of active DevInfo sites.

Ownership

The UN System maintains proprietary ownership of the DevInfo software, which is managed in its behalf by UNICEF, with the support of the UNDG.

Application and use

The DevInfo software is free software that can be downloaded from the DevInfo website. [4] The software is easily customizable, allowing DevInfo to have been adapted to over 370 customized adaptations [5] so far.

Free software software licensed to preserve user freedoms

Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, not price: users—individually or in cooperation with computer programmers—are free to do what they want with their copies of a free software regardless of how much is paid to obtain the program. Computer programs are deemed free if they give users ultimate control over the software and, subsequently, over their devices.

By the end of October 2012, over 120 countries had developed national statistical data systems based on DevInfo. [6] They include: [7]

By the end of October 2012, over 200 trainings had been conducted in the use of DevInfo. [8]

In addition to the adaptations made using the DevInfo [9] platform are some customized data visualization applications developed by the DevInfo initiative such as:

Release history and future releases

(1995–2003)

ChildInfo - UNICEF developed a database to monitor the World Summit for Children goals and offered the technology to the UN system to monitor human development. ChildInfo is a database management system launched in 1995 by UNICEF to monitor the worldwide situation of children and women. ChildInfo was the system which preceded DevInfo. It provides powerful features to organize data on social indicators and query data by indicator, time period and area. Correct interpretation of the data generated by ChildInfo helps governments protect the rights, improve health, and nurture development of children and women.

(2004–2005)

DevInfo 4.0 - ChildInfo was upgraded and launched as DevInfo 4.0 with UN Development Group endorsement in April 2004. The system provides access to indicators organized by sectors, goals, themes and other data management schemes. DevInfo 4.0 is a user-friendly software application for easy presentation of data in tables, graphs and maps, which can be included in MDG reports, presentations and advocacy materials. DevInfo 4.0 contributed to setting universal standards for data storage, access and dissemination of human development indicators, specifically the MDGs.

(2006–2008)

DevInfo 5.0 - This updated version featuring state-of-the-art database technology was launched in May 2006 with royalty-free distribution as a desktop application and on the web. DevInfo 5.0 offers an intuitive user interface providing easy navigations to search for data and produce customizable tables, graphs and maps. Compliant with emerging international standards for metadata (SDMX), the system contains a powerful data exchange module enabling users to easily share data across a variety of formats.

(2009)

DevInfo 6.0 - A powerful new version of DevInfo database technology, DevInfo 6.0 delivers significant enhancements for easy access to information on human development. Building on the technology of DevInfo 5.0, DevInfo 6.0 contains significant advancements in usability with a reduced learning curve for first-time users. The database system boasts greatly improved performance for large data sets and includes new animated data presentation objects. Two toolbars contain buttons which help users easily navigate through the system to search for data, analyze the results, and create presentation objects.

(2012)

DevInfo 7.0 - The most advanced version of DevInfo yet, DevInfo 7.0 is web-based and introduces exciting new features such as the ability to upload one's own data to visualize it without creating a database. With My Data, copy and paste your data into DevInfo to generate a data visualization on the fly with automatic mapping of geographical areas. DevInfo 7.0 makes available twenty-two visualization tools and introduces the catalog, which provides a large amount of online national and subnational data from countries around the world. Search the catalog to find data across multiple databases, and contribute your own database to the DevInfo worldwide catalog. In addition to this, the new Quick Data Search feature allows users to find their data instantly.

(2015)

DevInfo is no longer supported after 2015 since it was designed to manage Millennium Development Goals, which were retired in 2015. The focus since 2015 is on Sustainable Development Goals, rather than Millennium Development Goals.

Social media

DevInfo uses social media networking such as Facebook and Twitter to allow users to connect with each other and share experiences and difficulties in human development.

Related Research Articles

A management information system (MIS) is an information system used for decision-making, and for the coordination, control, analysis, and visualization of information in an organization.

International development Concept concerning the level of development on an international scale

International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of 'development' on an international scale. It is the basis for international classifications such as developed country, developing country and least developed country, and for a field of practice and research that in various ways engages with international development processes. There are, however, many schools of thought and conventions regarding which are the exact features constituting the 'development' of a country.

Dashboard (business) aggregate business progress report

A dashboard is a type of graphical user interface which often provides at-a-glance views of key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to a particular objective or business process. In other usage, "dashboard" is another name for "progress report" or "report."

UN-Water

United Nations Water (UN-Water) is an interagency mechanism that coordinates the efforts of United Nations entities and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues.

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) are household surveys implemented by countries under the programme developed by the United Nations Children's Fund to provide internationally comparable, statistically rigorous data on the situation of children and women. The first round of surveys (MICS1) was carried out in over 60 countries in mainly 1995 and 1996 in response to the World Summit for Children and measurement of the mid-decade progress. A second round (MICS2) in 2000 increased the depth of the survey, allowing monitoring of a larger number of globally agreed indicators. A third round (MICS3) started in 2006 and aimed at producing data measuring progress also toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), A World Fit for Children, and other major relevant international commitments. The fourth round, launched in 2009, aimed at most data collection conducted in 2010, but in reality most MICS4s were implemented in 2011 and even into 2012 and 2013. This represented a scale-up of frequency of MICS from UNICEF, now offering the survey programme on a three-year cycle. The fifth round, launched in 2012, was aimed at offering countries the tools to do the final MDG data collection.

The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Monitoring Program or WaSH MP is a local initiative that is responsible for monitoring the enduring crisis in the water sector in the Palestinian territories (oPt).

Visual analytics

Visual analytics is an outgrowth of the fields of information visualization and scientific visualization that focuses on analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces.

The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation by WHO and UNICEF is the official United Nations mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 (SDG6) since 2016.

InfoZoom software is a data analysis, business intelligence and data visualization software product created using in-memory analytics. The software is created and supported by humanIT and the Fraunhofer Institute FIT, the same organization that created MP3 compression technology. The software has over 100,000 licensed users and over 1000 customers worldwide.

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the statistical office of UNESCO and is the UN depository for cross-nationally comparable statistics on education, science and technology, culture, and communication.

Water Point Mapping (WPM) is a tool for monitoring the distribution and status of water supplies. It collects data about different aspects related to the water facility and overlays this point data with information about population and administrative boundaries. WPM helps to visualize the spatial distribution of water supply coverage and can thereby be used to highlight equity issues. The information collected provides insights into schemes' sustainability levels and management-related aspects of water points.

Icinga monitoring software

Icinga is an open-source computer system and network monitoring application. It was originally created as a fork of the Nagios system monitoring application in 2009.

The marginal budgeting for bottlenecks tool (MBB) is an analytical costing and budgeting tool that helps countries develop their health plans by taking into account the most effective interventions, cost and budget marginal allocations of their implementation to health services and assess their potential impact on health coverage, Health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and health outcomes of the poor. It builds on the High Impact Interventions to reduce mortality as published in various scientific articles including The Lancet series on Child, Maternal and neonatal survival. The tool has been developed in the context of Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers

UCW: Understanding Childrens Work

UCW: Understanding Children's Work is a programme to combat child labour. The 1997 Amsterdam Conference on Combating the Most Intolerable Forms of Child Labour and the 1997 Oslo International Conference on Child Labour both drew attention to the urgent need for concerted global action to end child labour, and called for an expansion of information gathering, statistics and empirical research to help inform this action. The inter-agency programme, Understanding Children’s Work (UCW), was initiated by the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNICEF and the World Bank as one of the responses to the recommendations of the Amsterdam and Oslo conferences. Through a variety of research activities, the UCW Programme supports the partner agencies in improving statistical information on child labour in its various dimensions – its nature, extent, causes and consequences – as well as on what policy approaches are most effective in addressing it.

MongoDB Inc. American software company, developer of MongoDB

MongoDB Inc. is an American software company that develops and provides commercial support for the open source database MongoDB, a NoSQL database that stores data in JSON-like documents with flexible schemas.

JetBrains Czech software company

JetBrains s.r.o. is a software development company whose tools are targeted towards software developers and project managers.

Armenia and the United Nations

The Republic of Armenia was admitted into the United Nations on March 2, 1992. Since December 1992 when UN opened its first office in Yerevan, Armenia signed and ratified many international treaties. There are fifteen specialized agencies, programs and funds in the UN Country Team under the supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator. Besides, the World Bank (WB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have offices in the country. The focus was drawn to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stipulated by the Millennium Declaration adopted during the Millennium Summit in 2000. The MDGs have simulated never before practiced actions to meet the needs of the world's poorest. As the MDG achievement date of December 2015 drew closer a new set of global sustainable development goals was consulted worldwide, to be adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. Armenia was included in the initial group of 50 countries to conduct national consultations on the global Post-2015 development agenda.

References

  1. ↑ Bedi, Tara (2007). Aline Coudouel; Kenneth Simler (eds.). More than a pretty picture: using poverty maps to design better policies and interventions. World Bank Publications. ISBN   978-0-8213-6931-9.
  2. ↑ "Definition of DevInfo".
  3. ↑ Segone, Marco; UNICEF, World Bank, International Development Evaluation Association, DevInfo, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) (2009). Bridging the gap: The role of monitoring and evaluation in evidence-based policy making. UNICEF.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "DevInfo applications". Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  5. ↑ "Customised adaptations of DevInfo". Archived from the original on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  6. ↑ Progress report : economic development and poverty reduction program. International Monetary Fund. 2006.
  7. ↑ "DevInfo Country Adaptations". Archived from the original on 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  8. ↑ "DevInfo Training Statistics".
  9. ↑ Pan, Ki-mun; UNICEF (2007-12-31). Children and the Millennium Development Goals: Progress towards A World Fit for Children. ISBN   978-92-806-4219-3.
  10. ↑ "CME Info: Child Mortality Estimates". Archived from the original on 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  11. ↑ "Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys". Archived from the original on 2011-04-18. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  12. ↑ "Data visualization tool".[ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ "CensusInfo website". Archived from the original on 2011-04-24. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  14. ↑ "Using DevInfo in emergency situations". Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  15. ↑ "Monitoring polio eradication in Northern India". Archived from the original on 2010-08-22. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.