Visualization of the need and distribution of aid in Africa

Abstract: When humanitarian aid is distributed to developing countries, crisis-areas and humanitarian aid organizations it is often difficult to get a good overview of how much aid is needed compared to what is given. Organizations have a tendency to focus on either a targeted area or specific topic. This issue is further hindered by the large amount of active aid organizations which adds to the complexity of getting good overview and the fact that crisis-areas are in a constant state of change. We intended to ease the decision making and the overall overview by supplying a website with an interactive map displaying the difference between needed- and donated financial aid of countries within the African continent. The scope can be expanded by including other parts of the world. In order to give the user an overview we collected humanitarian aid data gained from different aid organizations, where the user then could easily choose what is to be displayed, e.g food, care and educational aid. Each country then gets color coded depending on the current gap in funding. This data visualization method is called heatmap. This can then be used as a base for decision making or to show aid-contributors the amount and what type of aid is needed in a designated area.