The U.S. Agency for International Development has built a webpage of application programming interfaces and other software development tools to help developers customize platforms for accessing USAID data, GCN reported Tuesday.

Stephanie Kanowitz write the www.usaid.gov/developer site is meant to help the general public access datasets from the agency’s partial loan guarantees and food security analysis programs.

USAID created the developer resources portal to comply with the Open Government Initiative.

“We have found that opening up our data to innovative thinkers, both within the agency but even more importantly to those beyond the agency to our partners in developing countries, has spurred a level of innovation and new thinking that has led to improved development outcomes,” said Brandon Pustejovsky, USAID senior program analyst, according to GCN.

GCN reports that third-party developers can use the agency’s geolocated data to create maps and other visual tools for global development research.

USAID also wants portal users to submit feedback on the agency’s API tools via its Github account.

“The more we can crowdsource these innovative approaches, the further along that brings us toward our goal of ending extreme poverty,” Pustejovsky added, according to GCN.