D E V I N E T
DEVelopment Information Network on EThiopia

DEVINET is a joint initiative of the British Council and CRDA to address problems faced by development managers in accessing development information on Ethiopia. The first of its kind in Ethiopia, DEVINET holds and disseminates information that is crucial for decision-makers, researchers,academics and development managers and act as a gateway to development information on Ethiopia.

Information about local development and the activities of other organisations can be found by going into a resource centre or contacting individuals in person or by other means who might be of use. It is also difficult to trace what is happening in one sector or who has the best experience on a certain development issue unless one goes through a network of people and finds out to his needs. Therefore, the civil society, specifically Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) need to network themselves in a better way so they share best experiences one another, create partnership to achieve common goals, etc. So far, a number of partnerships, networks and discussion groups have been established to exchange information and best practices. To cite an example in the education sector is the EDGE group (Education Discussion Group in Ethiopia) which meets once a month at the Ministry of Education to discuss on issues of education among stakeholders in the field. However, the information content on best practices, area of activities, information sources of these organisations have not been recorded centrally to commonly share among the groups and other stakeholders in the area.

One of the developments in this area is the activities of the CRDA (Christian Relief and Development Agency). CRDA maintained a database of on-going projects, profile of its members and independent consultants. Although this has been a useful resource, it has not been fully utilised due to the fact that the databases can only be accessed in the premises of the CRDA. This network will therefore further what has been done and introduce other mechanisms of information sharing to address problems faced by development managers in accessing development information on Ethiopia.

The implementation plan of the DEVINET is developed by sharing the experiences of the British Council India's initiative - the Indev project (development information network on India) as a successful model which has networked over 1000 leading development organisations in India (i.e. NGOs. bilateral agencies, government departments, etc.).