In another outreach effort, in 2002 the FGDC helped fund Ms. Kate Lance start the SDI-Africa Newsletter.  This newsletter is published monthly in electronic from and devoted to identifying both SDI and geographic information activities such as conferences, workshops, training, and related within Africa along with the outcomes of previous activities and the websites of organizations helping to fund SDI development within Africa.   

This changed the interaction dynamic throughout Africa in SDI circles.  Prior to the SDI Newsletter start-up, most of the dialog on SDI topics was either into or out of Africa.  With the SDI Newsletter, Africans were exchanging ideas on related topic among themselves – building a synergy.

This appeared to be so successful, that the FGDC started and continues to fund the monthly publication of electronic versions of newsletters for Latin America and the Caribbean (SDI-LAC) and Asia and the Pacific (SDI-AP) regions.  The Americas Newsletter is currently published in English and Spanish.