Previewing the New NGO Aid Map

In late 2019, InterAction began transforming the NGO Aid Map to better serve the needs of the aid sector of today and beyond, with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Since 2008, NGO Aid Map has served as a resource for tracking the NGO sector’s work around the globe. The platform has been effective in communicating the breadth and depth of InterAction Members’ global impact. However, its relevance has faded as the challenges faced by the NGO sector have evolved.

After talking with dozens of stakeholders across the InterAction community and broader aid sector, InterAction’s design team identified a series of key changes to the platform that will allow the map to better feature the work of InterAction Members while also bringing new data visualization and mapping capability to InterAction’s critical advocacy work.

The New NGO Aid Map

The new Map will no longer be a data platform in the way it is now, and will instead focus on narratives featuring the work of InterAction Member NGOs in story maps, data visualization, deeper advocacy-focused issue features, crisis spotlights, and more.

During initial meetings with the community, it became clear that InterAction Members were still interested in a vehicle for highlighting their critical work and impact around the globe, but also that the concurrent data model was no longer best-in-class. Further, reviewing the platform data revealed that engagement with NGO Aid Map—within InterAction itself, across our community, and among the broader public—has seen progressively declined over the last few years.

The redesigned Map will more effectively amplify our coalition’s development and humanitarian work, while we’ve also added a flexible platform InterAction staff to use to easily design visual and data-driven narratives about key advocacy issues concerning our sector.

Here are some highlights of the new Map! Please note that the frames below are drafts; the finalized website might look slightly different.

The Home Page is the heart of the new NGO Aid Map. From this scalable, interactive map, users will explore the work of InterAction Member NGOs in countries around the globe, through stories told by those organizations themselves including short films, photo essays, program success stories, and more. Additionally, the new main map includes country features, deeper issue features related to InterAction’s advocacy work, and active crises InterAction is spotlighting. In short, the home page is a 30,000-foot view of our Members’ global impact and the dynamic work InterAction is doing to support them.

The Member Pages give users the opportunity to explore the scope of InterAction Members’ work based on stories they’ve submitted for the main map. From here, users can explore the countries Members are active in, their most recent updates to the Map, relevant tags, and their websites. The Member page is a one-stop shop for Member NGOs’ most recent updates.

Issue feature pages will give users a chance to dig deeper into some of the core issues affecting our work or relevant publications from the InterAction community. These dynamic data-driven stories represent a new key tool in InterAction’s advocacy toolbox as we work to support the world’s most marginalized populations.

The Country profile page is where the map gets to work. Current events, relevant statistics, crisis situation reports, and all other country-specific updates live here.

What Happens Next?

The NGO Aid Map design team is working closely with a D.C.-based software developer to build and test the version of the new site—which will launch in Fall 2021!

For InterAction Member NGOs that do still upload to NGO Aid Map, the current project process and database will no longer be supported in the redesigned Map. For Member NGOs that publish their data to IATI, any queries about publishing should be sent to the IATI Helpdesk. Please also find an updated list of IATI publishing tools and services HERE.

We can’t wait to show you the new Aid Map and explore ways to use it to promote our sector’s amazing work. Keep an eye on InterAction’s blog site and social media for updates.

Sign up here to receive updates on launch-related activities, contests, and info for submitting your stories to the Map!