Geocoding can help governments and development partners improve division of labor

Mapping aid activities is a powerful way to show what donors are doing and where, which could be a big help in division of labor discussions. Through a pilot country-level geocoding exercise, the Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) program of the University of Texas and AidData worked with the Government of Malawi’s Ministry of Finance to map all aid activities across the country. They used data from the Aid Management Platform, the government’s system for aid tracking, reporting, and coordination, to identify activities from 27 official donors for geocoding. Then, CCAPS and AidData built an interactive map of aid projects in Malawi (which can be shown against other variables, including climate change vulnerability and conflict events).

The Open Aid Partnership, an initiative spearheaded by the World Bank Institute, envisions repeating this sort of exercise in many countries, which could enable the creation of a common Open Aid Map showing development activities around the world.

This brief video demonstrates how this kind of mapping tool can help donors and governments better understand where aid efforts may be overlapping, and where there may be areas neglected by aid. Read more about the project here.