UNDP Communications Office reviewed all country office websites and announced the results of 2006 CyberStar Awards, which indicates top 10 websites of UNDP Country Offices worldwide. These web sites demonstrate overall excellence – as measured by Balanced Scorecard indicators that assess branding, practice and MDG-related content, and frequency of site updates – but have gone above and beyond that in creative ways. UNDP Uzbekistan's website was also selected as onne of the "UNDP CyberStars" for the "Web site's overall excellence and for Best projects database".
UNDP’s Country Offices use their public Web sites to put their “best face forward,” showing the world what they do, how they do it and why, as well as to advocate for the MDGs and particular development issues. Some CO’s have been especially skillful in doing all of this, coming up with creative ways to communicate complex programme information and policy recommendations to national and international audiences.
To celebrate these accomplishments last year, the UNDP Communications Office has announced its first annual “Cyberstars” awards to recognize the top ten Country Office Web sites. In 2006 UNDP Uzbekistan's website was completely renewed with additional functionality and contents, which positively affected evaluation of our website by UNDP Communications Office.
Below is the list of TOP 10 websites in alphabetical order (copied from UNDP Bulletin):
Cambodia - http://www.un.org.kh/undp
Best feature stories
Press releases inform the media about what we do, but the impact of actual stories reaches everyone. Aside from a basic press release archive, Cambodia goes above and beyond by posting well-written feature articles about their work in the field. One particularly interesting series is “A View From the Inside,” which interviews locals about their daily lives.
Democratic Republic of Congo - http://www.undp.org.cd
Best use of photos
UNDP in the DRC has adopted a unique template and its navigation is seamless, offering within each section a list of related news items, documents and multimedia features. The site also boasts a photo gallery that provides a unique insight into the activities of UNDP on the ground. Each focus area is accompanied with a selection of relevant photos with captions, and users can also choose to view the entire picture gallery.
Honduras - http://www.undp.un.hn
Best project descriptions for the Web
Posting relevant and updated project information is a challenge for all country offices. Most solutions tend to show basic, and often outdated, project information that mentions when projects have begun. Seldom is there any follow-up to show project results and if so, rarely is it rewritten for public audiences. UNDP Honduras has tackled this challenge by creating project pages that explain each project, its impact and UNDP’s role in a simple language that is comprehensible to an external audience. The projects are easy to navigate as they are categorized by service line and also easy to compare since they follow a consistent template.
Lao PDR - http://www.undplao.org
Best MDG section
The Lao PDR site has a particularly good section on progress of the Millennium Development Goals. The site provides an overview of the MDGs in the Lao PDR, but each listed goal also links to a detailed page about the current progress of that particular MDG in the country. The site also features MDG success story videos on topics such as child health and food security.
Malaysia - http://www.undp.org.my
Best use of corporate template
Malaysia continues to use a clean, well-organised version of the existing corporate template, simultaneously promoting UNDP’s brand and giving the site a unique look and feel. The corporate templates at http://www.undp.org/templates are tools that help country offices create Web sites, but every office has the flexibility to make it their own. Malaysia’s template sets an excellent example of balancing creativity and common graphic standards, and a number of offices have used it as a model for their site redesigns.
Peru - http://www.pnud.org.pe
Best transparency
UNDP Peru continues to be a best practice for transparently publishing country office business processes. By integrating its Business Innovation Lab ideas into its online communications strategy, UNDP Peru has valuable information for our external audiences and working partners such as online NEX guide and a dynamic display of ATLAS information.
Syria - http://www.undp.org.sy
Best foreign-language template
When developing a language version of a site, it is important to fully maintain this “additional” site so that it mirrors the English version. Syria’s site is one of the best examples of a multi-lingual Web site. Its Arabic version is not only integrated into the corporate template, but it is also fully translated.
Tajikistan - http://www.undp.tj
Best current progress indicator
Tajikistan’s “monitoring” feature, which is entirely public, makes it easy for anyone to follow the progress of each project. A color code indicates that the project: is on track to achieve its objectives (green); might only partially fulfill its objectives or be delayed (yellow); will only achieve some of its objectives (orange); or will not achieve its objectives (red). Every month, each programme director has to report on the progress made and justify the color code. Tajikistan’s feature is a great example of how UNDP’s public sites can increase the transparency of the organization’s activities.
Uzbekistan - http://www.undp.uz
Best project database
All of UNDP Uzbekistan’s projects are listed on the country office Web site. The office’s fact sheets offer a comprehensive overview of the background, objectives, achievements and time span of each project. They provide all of the information that is relevant to UNDP’s partners on the ground: project ID, focus area and service line, related MDG targets, geographical focus, implementing partners, contact details and a “last updated” feature.
Viet Nam - http://www.undp.org.vn
Best focus area pages
The Viet Nam site does an excellent job of keeping readers engaged in all the content that they have to offer on their focus area pages. Instead of restricting their press releases to the “Newsroom” section, publications to their “Publications” section, and so on, Viet Nam filters out all the content that is relevant to democratic governance, poverty reduction, and so on, and features it in a variety of ways across the entire site. Since statistics have shown that Web site visitors tend to stay on a site an average of just one page, the Viet Nam site provides a number of ways for readers to “stay” on the site.
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