About the Authors: Catherine Woteki serves as Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Nick Sinai serves as the U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer.
In an exciting opportunity, the G-8 is inviting innovators to apply to present ideas that demonstrate how open data can be unleashed to increase food security at the G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture on April 29-30, 2013 in Washington, D.C.
Open data is being used by innovators and entrepreneurs around the world to accelerate development, whether it be tracking election transparency in Kenya or providing essential information to rural farmers in Uganda. The G-8 conference will convene policy makers, thought leaders, food security stakeholders, and data experts to discuss the role of public, agriculturally-relevant… more »
Last week in Jordan, 50 women from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia, Yemen and the United States came together to map out ways in which they could use the TechWomen network to encourage more women and girls to pursue professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM).
TechWomen is a program sponsored by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that pairs emerging women leaders in technology from the Middle East and North Africa with leading American women from the Silicon Valley area, using technology as a means to empower women and girls.… more »
About the Authors: Melanne Verveer serves as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. Ambassador Verveer co-authored this entry with Shelly Esque. This entry appeared first on The Huffington Post.
There is no doubt that over the last decade, the Internet has created a revolution. Never before has information been so widely available or people better connected to one another. The Internet can be a great equalizer. And yet, access to it is not equally distributed. Notably, Internet access for both men and women in North America is nearly five times that of Africa.
Have you participated in a State Department-sponsored exchange program? Stay connected. Do you teach English abroad? We have free resources to help. Do you want to engage in citizen diplomacy? One of these new websites holds the information you need to get you started.
After extensive research and planning, five of ECA's websites have been given a sleek redesign in order to better serve our audiences. The launch includes five distinct new websites, each uniquely designed to provide people around the globe with the information they need to engage in citizen diplomacy and English teaching/learning activities. The redesigned sites allow Americans and foreign audiences to easily discover how they can be a part of the Department's academic, cultural, sports, youth, professional, or private sector exchanges.
International Exchange Alumni, American English, Exchanges,… more »
When we apply technology at its best to public service at its most critical, we can make powerful differences in the lives and well-being of people.
Advances in communications and information technology are allowing us to do just that, whether we are using crowd-sourcing or Twitter, or reaching people via mobile phones or Skype. We are assisting survivors in the wake of natural disasters. We are monitoring elections to ensure they are free, safe and fair. We are reaching more people in non-permissive environments. Technology has become not only our virtual eyes and ears, but our helping hands, in a variety of ways.
Take Ushahidi ("witness" in Swahili), a crowd-sourcing platform developed by Kenyan citizens in 2008 that uses technology to collect, verify, and map information from citizens on a variety of issues. That can include incidents of violence,… more »
Over the past decade, the international development community has recognized that investing in women is the most direct and effective way to promote economic growth, peace, and prosperity. Around the world, and more recently in developing countries, we have seen the transformative impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly mobile phones and the Internet. The question remains, what might be possible when we put these two powerful forces together by investing in women and ICTs in low-to-medium income countries?
This week, the U.S. Secretary of State's Office of Global Women's Issues and UN Women are convening the first International Forum on Women, ICT, and Development (WICTAD) in Washington DC,… more »
A remarkable new tool is becoming increasingly available to help end extreme poverty and ensure dignity and opportunity for people around the world -- a tool that few people think about when they consider how to bolster international development efforts. That tool is data, and in particular "open data" -- data freely available in formats that are easy to use in new and innovative ways, while rigorously protecting privacy.
The possibilities are truly endless -- it could be regional epidemiological statistics being made available to community health workers; or real-time weather information being made available to small-holder farmers; or loan information being made accessible to first-time borrowers. In these and countless other arenas, open data has the potential to not only improve transparency and coordination,… more »
What is the US State department doing about the four American children abducted from Italy by their Russian mother after she lost custody due to severe psychlogical…
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If you weren't so insistent on overthrowing the Assad regime, this wouldn't have happened. Tell Qatar and Saudi Arabia to quit arming the foreign…
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Secretary Kerry (Feb. 22): "We meet as very special friends in a very strong alliance, an alliance that I can say to you is really evolving into a global partnership and which is critical to the peace and security of the Asia Pacific." President's Re more »
During her Feb. 25-26 trip, Assistant Secretary Brimmer delivers remarks at UNESCO's 10-year review event for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS+10) and at the UN Human Rights Council opening session. more »
![Women pluck rice grass from a nursery to plant on plots in Ahero, Kenya on Nov. 13, 2009. [AP File Photo]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130223165936im_/http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2013_0218_grass_kenya_m.jpg)
![TechWomen program participants pose for a photograph in Amman, Jordan, February 2013. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130223165936im_/http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2013_0214_techwomen_jordan_m.jpg)
![Female Indian students pose with tablet computers in New Delhi, India, Oct. 5, 2011. [AP File Photo]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130223165936im_/http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2013_0124_women_tablets_m.jpg)
![In this photo taken, Nov. 8, 2011, a woman poses with her Blackberry mobile phone in Johannesburg. The woman says she cherishes her phone as a link to family and friends, and also sees it as a radio, a library, a mini cinema, a bank teller, and more. [AP File Photo]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130223165936im_/http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0510_africa_innovation_m.jpg)
![A woman talks on her mobile phone at an election rally in Faizabad, India, Feb. 2, 2012. [AP File Photo]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130223165936im_/http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2013_0110_woman_mobile_phone_m.jpg)
![USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park discuss the impact of open data in the field of global development during DataJam at the White House in Washington, D.C. on December 10, 2012. [USAID Photo/ Used by Permission]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130223165936im_/http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2013_0103_data_jam_usaid_wh_m.jpg)
