Makati
City, 9 September 2005 --- Over 100 planning and monitoring
experts from government agencies and United Nations organizations
attended week-long training sessions on the use of a database
tool to monitor the Millennium Development Goals in the second
quarter of this year.
DevInfo, a user-friendly
software, was rolled out in June 2005 in a series of workshops
for trainers and users from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Organized
by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), these
workshops equipped participants with the skills to conduct
DevInfo training sessions.
DevInfo was officially
adopted by the UN system in the Philippines in October 2004.
DevInfo was patterned after UNICEF’s ChildInfo software.
DevInfo allows the archiving of data on various indicators
and presents users with analytical and presentation tools.
DevInfo is made
up of separate modules. DevInfo User is for people who constantly
need data for their development work. The DevInfo Template
and Data Entry modules are for database administrators who
control the encoding of data. The DevInfo Customize module
allows users to re-design the interface of the software. Hence,
a local municipality may adopt DevInfo and make it look like
its own homegrown software.
“This feature
will give us a buy-in and unique selling point,” said
UNICEF country representative Nicholas Alipui. “It is
important for users of this technology to have a sense of
ownership.”
In Mindanao, an
ad hoc committee was set up to review different DevInfo databases
and come up with a common DevInfo template for Mindanao. This
assignment was spearheaded by NEDA Regional Offices in Mindanao.
DevInfo is a free
software. UNICEF offers technical assistance in setting up
the DevInfo system.
# # #
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Augusto
Rodriguez
UNICEF
Manila, 901 0178 or 0917 886 8673, arodriguez@unicef.org
Dale
Rutstein
UNICEF Manila, 901 0177 or 0917 866 4969, drutstein@unicef.org
Alexis Rodrigo
UNICEF Manila, 901 0173 or 0917 858 9447, arodrigo@unicef.org
|
