Launching the new site, Tom Kitt, Minister of State for with Special Responsibility for Overseas Development, invited the public to participate in the government's development work and encouraged people to give advice and comment via the site.
Overseas development aid on behalf of the people of Ireland is expected to amount EUR450 million this year. While at present the DCI gives the aggregate allocation to each country, the government intends to give a full breakdown of spending in the future.
The site demonstrates the breadth of Irish overseas aid in priority countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique, as well as in other 71 countries in receipt of aid from Ireland, said Rory Coveney, information officer of the Development Cooperation Directorate.
The site was developed by Irish firm Arekibo, which assigned five employees to the task. "The magic happened in the first phase when we worked with DCI and NGOs through workshops to see what they wanted on-line and the message each party wanted to get across," commented Arekibo managing director Martin Casey. He said the team examined similar sites from around the Net, "looked at the way they treated information, maps and countries and took the best from what we found."
Casey described the project as one of the smoothest Arekibo has worked on, because the client was so enthusiastic, which he said, helped the company create a brand to establish Ireland as a world-class example in development aid.
The site runs on a content management system, which enables the department to update all sections in-house. The system is password operated and accessible on-line, which means the site can be updated by people working abroad, once the content has been authorised.
Arekibo was formed in 2001 by Martin Casey, Dervla Cunnigham and Tom Carroll. AOL, IBEC, AIB, Waterford Crystal and VHI are among its customers.
Quelle: electricnews.net
