Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( Lock Locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Digital.gov Logo

Guidance on building better digital services in government

  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Communities
  • Tools
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Write for us
  • Contact

All Resources

U.S. Agency For International Development

News and Events on U.S. Agency For International Development

14 posts

Federal Crowdsourcing

Federal Crowdsourcing Webinar Series, Episode 13: Securing Water for Food’s Crowdsourcing Culture

In this webinar, we discuss how to embed crowdsourcing into the culture of a program to the benefit of the project team, and its participants.
Posts by Dr. Ku McMahan Posts by Dr. Jarah Meador
Aug 18, 2020

Open Data Democratizes Innovation

Americans Use Public Data to Improve the Lives of Fellow Citizens Data is one of our most important national assets. It informs our policy and our national priorities. But as we have seen time and time again, the most effective way to govern is to engage with the public directly. Thanks to the President’s Executive Order requiring
Posts by Robin A. Thottungal Posts by Kris Rowley
Jun 02, 2016

Challenges & Prizes Webinar Series Concludes, but Training Still Available

It began with a history lesson and ended with an eye to the future. In between, the Expert Training Series: How to Design & Operate Prizes to Maximize Success covered nearly every aspect of what it takes to run successful incentivized competitions. Challenge.gov and DigitalGov University partnered with XPRIZE Foundation to bring together expert speakers
Posts by Eric Beidel
Feb 17, 2016

The Day After: Real Impacts Begin When a Challenge Ends

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh won the Orteig Prize for becoming the first pilot to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. Few know that Lindbergh won $25,000 for the flight, but everybody knows about the revolution that followed. That transatlantic flight opened people’s minds to what was possible in air travel. Investment in the aviation
Posts by Eric Beidel
Feb 02, 2016

All In: Partnering Across Sectors Can Boost Competition Results

We’ve heard the phrase a million times: Nobody does it alone. Still, it rings true no matter what you’re trying to accomplish. When it comes to crowdsourcing competitions, government agencies are making breakthroughs in a variety of fields by partnering with companies, nonprofit organizations and others beyond the federal framework. The White House announced more
Posts by Eric Beidel
Dec 11, 2015

Challenge.gov Honors Federal Agencies, Staff for Raising the Bar on Public Sector Prize Competitions

The biggest advocates for the use of challenges in the public sector gathered at the General Services Administration (GSA) headquarters, October 8, to acknowledge the remarkable rise of a community that has grown steadily in number and influence over the past five years. More than 300 federal employees representing agencies spanning government attended in person
Posts by Eric Beidel
Oct 13, 2015

The People and Teams That Power High-Impact Incentive Prizes

Federal agencies have used prize competitions and challenges to drive competition and spark innovation for nearly a decade. In September 2010, as part of President Obama’s Strategy for American Innovation [PDF], the Administration launched Challenge.gov, an online platform that enables federal agencies to engage civic
Posts by Jenn Gustetic Posts by Kelly Olson
Oct 06, 2015

Challenge Module 1: Prize History, Prize Theory and What Makes a Good Prize

Two powerhouses in the Challenge and Prize community came together at GSA for the first in a seven-part learning series recently. Chris Frangione, Vice President of Prize Development for the XPrize and Alexis Bonnell, Innovation Evangelist at USAID offered insights
Posts by Judy Romano
Jul 29, 2015

Getting Started with Usability Testing

At the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), our new open data policy will begin making more Agency-funded data broadly accessible to the public. It completely changes the way we do business, and it also means that in the coming years, the amount of data we
Posts by Laura Hughes
Mar 19, 2015

Crowdsourcing Month: An Overview

This month we’ll be highlighting articles about crowdsourcing. These are the programs that use a variety of online mechanisms to get ideas, services, solutions, and products by asking a large, diverse crowd to contribute their expertise, talents, and skills. Among the mechanisms are hackathons, data jams, code-a-thons, prize competitions, workplace surveys, open ideation, micro-tasks or
Posts by Tammi Marcoullier
Dec 08, 2014

Results Report: Robots Created for Competitions to Help Ebola Response

Challenge competitions were recently highlighted as two potential solutions to help with the Ebola crisis responses. The first is a grand challenge launched Oct. 17, 2014, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID): Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development. The goal: To help health care workers on the front lines provide better care and stop
Posts by Tammi Marcoullier
Oct 27, 2014

Advice from USAID on Prize Competition Communication Strategies

A well-developed communications plan is critical to the success of a challenge competition, but too often it is one item managers leave to consider at the end of prize design. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Jarah Meador shared the Desal Prize plan and results in the September 16 webinar, “Why Your Gov
Posts by Karen Trebon
Sep 29, 2014

The Federal List of #HackforChange Projects

You should be on this list—the current federal government participants in the National Day of Civic Hacking. There are 15 agencies participating in the event, primarily in and around the Washington, D.C., area. This is a fantastic compilation of what agencies are doing, but it is not enough. We need more widespread participation across the country. If
Posts by Tammi Marcoullier
May 15, 2014

Partnerships Can Add Value to Prize Competitions

The right partner can be the key to a successful challenge competition. If you’re planning a challenge for your agency, you’ve probably had to ask: “Do we have the tools and capabilities to pull off this challenge on our own?” Why we form partnerships Often times, the answer is, “no.” But that shouldn’t stop you from
Posts by Karen Trebon
Oct 21, 2013

Agency Digital Strategy Pages

In his May 23rd, 2012 Presidential Memorandum, President Obama directed Executive Departments and Agencies to: Implement the requirements of the Digital Government Strategy, and Create a page at www.[agency].gov/digitalstrategy to publicly report progress of this implementation. Consistent with Milestone Actions #2.1 (open data) and #7.1 (mobile optimization), agencies will post candidate data sets and services to
Posts by Alycia Piazza
Aug 22, 2012

Join 60,000 others in government and subscribe to our newsletter — a round-up of the best digital news in government and across our field.

Return to top

Learn

  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Communities
  • Tools

Contribute

  • Write for us
  • Host an event
  • Edit on GitHub

About

  • About Us
  • Site Policies

Social

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS
  • Email us
GSA logo

Digital.gov

An official website of the U.S. General Services Administration

  • About GSA
  • Accessibility support
  • FOIA requests
  • No FEAR Act data
  • Office of the Inspector General
  • Performance reports
  • Privacy policy
Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov
Report an issue