Methodology
"Humanitarian Map" – is an information interactive on-line portal russianassistance.ru about Russian international development assistance (IDA) projects and initiatives.
The notion of IDA is based on provisions of the Concept of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Sphere of International Development Assistance (approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 20, 2014 №259) and, for the purposes of the Humanitarian Map project, includes:
- official assistance provided at the State level on a bilateral and multilateral basis, as well as humanitarian initiatives undertaken by private sector companies, non-profit organizations, and individuals;
- humanitarian, technical, financial, and other assistance to facilitate sustainable socio-economic development of recipient States, help resolve crises caused by natural and man-made disasters and other emergencies, internal and/or international conflicts, as well as provide assistance to individuals and organizations in overcoming the consequences of such situations.
We use official Internet and media resources as sources of information
Data about every country is indicated on the map* and in "country profiles." The data is gathered from official Internet sources, including official sites of Russian and foreign State bodies, international organizations and their social network accounts, sites of news agencies, private sector organizations that contribute to providing international development assistance, as well as from other sources. At this time, the database of sources for the Humanitarian Map includes over 400 items.
The search for information is carried out by project administrators to provide the users of the Humanitarian Map with an up-to-date overview of Russia’s IDA facts, primarily with those from official sources. Other sources can be used as clarifying and/or complementary ones. Links to the sources are indicated in "country profiles."
*The interactive map of the world as presented on this web site is schematic. It is without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory and may not precisely reflect national borders.
Crowdsourcing data collection allows everybody to add information to the map
The Humanitarian Map project is not a primary data owner. Thus, since it collects data from open sources, it cannot provide a complete and exhaustive overview of all the facts of the Russian IDA that have ever taken place. At the same time, the project team aims at displaying the maximum number of such facts on the Humanitarian Map. To this end, there is a possibility to add information to the map upon the proposal of every interested user.
The crowdsourcing principle of data collection is implemented through the function Add Information to the Map. After receiving a request, project administrators will make sure that the information is reliable, checking its completeness and compliance with the project methodology. Then, if the applicable criteria are satisfied, the proposed fact of assistance can be displayed on the Humanitarian Map.
A fact that the assistance has been rendered is used as a reporting unit
The reporting unit used in the database underlying the map is a fact that the assistance has been rendered to a foreign State, organization, or group of individuals. These may include, for example, providing goods and services on a gratuitous basis, launching or completing a development assistance project, making a contribution to an international organization, or allocating financial resources. One fact may contain several categories of assistance, as well as several organizations involved in its provision.
In case when IDA is provided through making a contribution to an international organization, a primary fact of assistance means an official declaration by the Russian side on the intention to make the contribution in a specific period of time or on the executed payment. The information about an officially stated intention is then updated and completed by project administrators as the information about the evolving stages of assistance is coming in for each particular case.
The map time scale is divided into years
The functions of the Humanitarian Map allow us to display data for particular time periods equal to one year.
At present, the Humanitarian Map contains information about the Russian IDA that has been provided starting from January 1, 2020. Project administrators add and update the information displayed on the map on a regular basis. The list of updates is available on special tab.
We use our self-developed typology of IDA categories
For orderly and systematized display on the map, the facts of the Russian IDA are grouped into categories, which may be used as filters.
Health - includes projects in the field of healthcare, supplies of medicines, medical equipment, facilities, and materials, as well as services provided by medical personnel.
Food - includes projects aimed at solving hunger problems and providing food to vulnerable groups of people, as well as individual food supplies.
Material and technical support - refers to supplying materials and technical resources, including machinery, equipment, vehicles, and necessities (except for "health" category necessities), as well as transferring knowledge and experience for capacity development in various fields, carrying out consultations, sending specialists and experts.
Education and social sphere - includes programs and projects of assistance in the area of education, culture, science, and sports, supply of educational materials and equipment, programs of support for vulnerable groups of people.
Economic development - includes programs and projects focused on developing various sectors of the economy, supporting small and medium enterprises.
Financial aid - includes various types of assistance in monetary form, including grants, private donations, direct budget support, debt relief, concessional loans.
Agencies and organizations involved in IDA
Russian agencies and organizations involved in IDA are divided into three groups, which may be used as filters.
Public sector - institutions include federal or regional government authorities of the Russian Federation and its constituent entities, as well as corporations, owned or controlled by the State.
Private sector - institutions include commercial organizations that are not owned or controlled by the State.
Non-profit sector - institutions include organizations that do not have profit-making as their primary purpose, public and religious organizations, as well as individuals and informal associations of individuals.
When adding public sector organizations involved in IDA into "country profiles", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation should not be indicated separately, as it is implied that the Russian MFA with its diplomatic missions abroad may participate in all IAD projects and related activities at various stages (under the provisions of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of November 8, 2011, № 1478 "On the coordinating role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in conducting a unified foreign policy line of the Russian Federation").
Special labels are used to provide additional categories of analysis
Special labels allow categorizing countries on the map according to additional parameters while maintaining the possibility of using filters by categories of assistance and types of organizations.
COVID-19 Response - label displays facts of the assistance provided to fight the new coronavirus.
Assistance through International Organizations - displays the facts of assistance provided at the expense of the Russian Federation's contributions to the budget of international organizations.
The figures we show on the dashboard and how we calculate them
The dashboard displays the total number of recipient States, the total number of assistance facts contained in the database at the moment, statistics on categories of assistance and participating organizations. All the figures showed on the dashboard are calculated using the data accumulated in the Humanitarian Map project database.
Figures on IDA categories (as a percentage) does not refer to amounts of financial funds spent on assistance, but show how frequently assistance of a certain category has been provided during the current or other chosen year. The calculation takes into account that several IDA categories may be involved in a single fact of assistance.
Figures on agencies and organizations (as a percentage) show how frequently organizations of a certain type contribute to assistance efforts according to the present methodology. The calculation takes into account that several organizations of different types may be involved in a single fact of assistance. The total number of all types of organizations registered in the Humanitarian Map project database is also shown on the dashboard.
