March 1998 Insights Issue #25

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Sites for sore eyes

What makes a good website on development? As Editor of OneWorld Online's Think Tank, I regularly seek out information on development, environmental and social justice issues over the Internet. My experience is that a vast amount of excellent information is available, but getting to it can be a frustrating process. Even so, the Net has real potential to provide the exact information users want, in a rapid and straightforward way.

At the top of my list of good development sites is Euforic - Europe's Forum on Resources for International Cooperation. Euforic www.oneworld.org/euforic/framed/front.htm is a 'one-stop shop' window for EU-based resources on international development cooperation. Here like-minded groups publish and disseminate their information. Euforic contains full-text documents, excellent search facilities within the site and useful topical groupings of information.

I'm also impressed by several sites that focus on water and sanitation, designed to reach users in practice, research and funding. INTERWATER www.oneworld.org/ircwater/iwindex.htm gives access to a wealth of sources of information about water and sanitation in developing countries. GARNET info.lut.ac.uk/departments/cv/wedc/garnet/grntover.html is a related site that focuses on applied research, and is designed to reach researchers and research users.

These sites are staightforward and mainly text-based, with few (if any) complicated graphics. They have good search facilities and fast access times, making it easy to get information quickly - a vital factor for enabling Southern users to gain ready access to Internet resources.

All of them are also numbered among the partners OneWorld online, an information hub and gateway for over 150 organisations working on development related issues worldwide, which includes the UK Overseas Development Institute www.oneworld.org/odi/ and an array of Southern organisations. OneWorld's Think Tank www.oneworld.org/thinktank/r features regular editorials and links to relevant full-text information available on OneoWorld's partners' sites, structured around key topics, and is designed to meet the needs of development practitioners, academics and journalists. Other good sites include:

• www.ids.ac.uk/eldis/eldis.html. ELDIS, the Electronic Development and Environment Information System. Based at the Institute of Development Studies, ELDIS is a directory and gateway to development information resources. It also has a first-rate What's New page that is updated daily.
• www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/gec - a web databse of the Global Environmental Change Programme: it covers all research funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, into social and economic stresses of environmental change and strategies to cope with them
• iisd1.iisd.ca/ - site of the International Institute for Sustainable Developmetn (IISD). It provides access to over 10,500 titles relating to sustainable development, including the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, a record of ongoing international conferences arising from the UN Conference on Environment and Development.
• www.worldbank.org/ - the World Bank site. Its simple, straighforward presentation makes it easy to navigate the huge amounts of data, project descriptions, publications and other resources within. It also provides links to occasional international conferences organised by the Bank over the Internet. Fees are charged for some sections on this website.
• www.un.org/womenwatch/un.htm/ - the WomenWatch site has a good coverage of the UN's work relating to women worldwide, and offers access to knowledge on gender issues.

Richard Tapper edits OneWorld Online's Think Tank and directs the Environment, Business and Development Group, which provides consultant support on policy, communications and practice for agencies and organisations of all kinds.