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"The United States government is planning to launch a website that highlights much of its assistance to foreign countries.  Though a particular launch date for the site has yet to be announced, Raj Shah \u2014 administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) \u2014 said this is part of the Obama administration's plan to use social media and technology to establish a more transparent government. \nShah talked about the future site and the administration's use of new media during an onstage discussion with UN Foundation President and former Senator Timothy Wirth at Mashable and 92Y\u2019s UN Week Digital Media Lounge Thursday morning.\nShah said he hopes the site can be built into a platform that will allow people to see what programs are being used to provide assistance, as well as eventual outcomes and results. He feels that making such information easily available could inspire people to help those struggling with poverty, hunger, illness and other obstacles.\n\"If they can see a $10 investment saves a child because they can sleep under a bed net, as the UN Foundation has made possible, or if they can see that for $15 or $20, we can save a year of life through basic immunization... I'm convinced people will want to do more,\" Shah said, adding that this could help thousands or millions of people around the world.\nShah isn't the only official that has been discussing the potentially significant role social media, and other forms of digital technology, can play in helping individual countries \u2014 and the United Nations itself \u2014 achieve particular development goals. President Obama also touted the importance of promoting communication tools, as well as \"a free and open Internet, so individuals have the information to make up their own minds,\" during his address to the UN General Assembly this morning. \nThe use of such online media has played a large role in the Obama administration going back to the 2008 presidential campaign and continuing with efforts like the White House's current YouTube channel.  Shah said transparency will continue to remain part of the administration's focus, and that it's still learning how to use various new media technologies out there to achieve its goals.\nFor more information about USAID and the UN Foundation's current projects, watch the video above."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/09/23/usaid-transparency-social-good/>