AidData partners with climate change center to launch foreign-aid mapping tool

by Staff

AidData, in partnership with the Strauss Center’s Climate Change and African Political Stability program (CCAPS), has launched an online data portal that enables researchers and policymakers to visualize data on climate change vulnerability, conflict, and aid, and to analyze how these issues intersect in Africa. The CCAPS mapping tool aims to provide the most comprehensive view yet of climate change and security in Africa.

“This represents a major step forward in global aid transparency. The CCAPS mapping tool demonstrates the vast potential of geo-referenced data and visual analytic tools to increase the transparency and impact of development assistance at the subnational level,” said Brad Parks, co-executive director of AidData and research faculty at William & Mary’s Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations.

The tool, which uses Esri technology, allows users to select and layer any combination of CCAPS data onto one map to assess how myriad climate change impacts and responses intersect. To assess the interaction of climate vulnerability and international aid, users can locate aid projects funded by the 27 donors tracked in Malawi’s Aid Management Platform, layered on top of climate change vulnerability data.

“This mapping tool allows policymakers to analyze data from multiple sources at once, providing integrated analysis of the drivers and responses related to security risks stemming from climate change,.” said Francis J. Gavin, Director of the Strauss Center.

Mapping such aid flows provides a new way to discern if adaptation aid is effectively targeting the regions where climate change poses the most significant risk to the sustainable development and political stability of a country.

“Being able to see in a map all the donor-funded activities in Malawi has transformed the way we think about development and positively helped our own planning effort,” the Honorable Ken Lipenga, Minister of Finance and Development Planning in Malawi said in a press release.

While the mapping tool is in its first stage of development, the next stage will convey a comprehensive picture of trends in Africa through the use of thematic mapping tools. Users will be able to access raw CCAPS data and use the mapping tool to combine CCAPS datasets with other organizations’ data to aggregate and disaggregate data in the way that is most useful to them. The thematic mapping tools will include data on climate change vulnerability, conflict, adaptation aid, and governance. CCAPS and AidData will release these thematic mapping tools throughout the spring and summer of 2012.

“To ask critical questions about how development assistance can reduce vulnerability, you need hyper-local data on climate, and also on aid-funded interventions. This is what the new CCAPS mapping tool shows in a digestible, interactive way. It will no doubt be a valuable new tool not only for researchers, but also policymakers, journalists, and citizens,” said Jean-Louis Sarbib, CEO of Development Gateway.

The Strauss Center’s program on Climate Change and African Political Stability is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Minerva Initiative.
AidData is a collaborative initiative to make information on development assistance more transparent and accessible. AidData is a joint program of Brigham Young University, the College of William and Mary, and Development Gateway.