Transcript Slide 1

Geo-referencing
Benefits, Methodology and Opportunities
Presentation to IATI TAG Conference
October 5, 2010
Overview
Geo-referencing of foreign aid projects
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Benefits
Methodology
Experiences: Mapping for Results Partnership
Next Steps
Donor Transparency and Targeting of Need
• Track funds at the sub-national level; identify specific
locations of projects
• Mash up aid flows with other data layers (e.g. poverty maps)
to explore aid flows vs. needs in different sectors
• Allow researchers, managers, and other stakeholders to
examine relationship between aid and other socioeconomic
indicators
World Bank Projects in Nepal
Population Density and Active World Bank Projects
Poverty and Active World Bank Projects
Recipient Feedback
• Need for on the ground information
– Lack of information about outcomes
– No mechanism to give recipients a voice in aid
• Enable stakeholders to better assess aid performance;
enhance dialogue between recipient governments and
donors on aid allocation.
• Combine with SMS technology to enable crowdsourcing
and create feedback loops.
Donor Coordination
• Display activities of multiple donors to inform the
geographic coordination and planning process within
recipient countries.
• Expose spatial financing gaps and disadvantaged areas
not targeted by donor community.
• Combine with sub-national socioeconomic indicators to
facilitate country aid and budgeting planning.
Leveraging Geo-Referenced Data to Make Aid Better
• Improves quality of aid information
• Increases transparency in the aid process
• Enhances accountability
• Combines with other project information (sectoral,
commitment amount, closing dates, etc.) to provide
complete geographic country aid portfolio.
Geo-Coding and AidData
• Methodology for geo-coding project data at the sub-national level
• Developed by AidData with Uppsala University, Sweden
– Standardized. Allows for standardization and precision across donors
– High quality. Double coding and arbitration by experienced BYU professors;
specialized software to enable accurate coding and arbitration
– Expert team with research assistants trained in coding methodology
– Mashable. Data can be used by any Geographic Information provider (e.g. ESRI,
FortiusOne, etc.) and can then be overlayed with other layers
Geo-coding pilot
• World Bank Mapping for Results Partnership
– Team of 10 geo-coders and 1 arbitrator, 8 weeks
– Geo-coders geo-tagged all active World Bank projects in Sub-Saharan
Africa and Latin America, and select countries in Asia
– Team is now creating visualizations:
• Enabling users to see where aid is directed, identify gaps, and
improve planning and coordination
Mapping for Results Initiative
Next Steps
• Combining geo-coded data with SMS crowdsourcing
technology
• Increasing availability and granularity of sub-national needs
indicators (i.e. DHS, AICD, UCDP)
• Geo-referencing larger subset of donor community to improve
coordination
Next Steps
• Geo-referencing historic projects to examine trends and
assess aid effectiveness
• Coding at multiple points in the funding process (planning,
budget implementation, assessment)
• Increasing accessibility through mobile phone applications