Where does aid go? Mapping the African Development Bank’s Activities

Last week, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and AidData launched an interactive map showing the precise locations of the AfDB’s ongoing operations in Cameroon, Morocco, and Tanzania. The map allows users to zoom in on each of these countries and explore the Bank’s activities by sector. The maps also display key development indicators, including poverty, malnutrition, and infant mortality rates, by region. This is a good starting point for analysis of where aid is flowing, and where there are gaps.

To create the map, a team of researchers from AidData identified the latitude and longitude of the location(s) where each project is being implemented. They used a geocoding methodology developed jointly by AidData and Uppsala University in Sweden, which can be adapted for use by different types of organizations. After project locations were identified, dynamic maps for the web and mobile devices were created in partnership with Esri.