African Renaissance Trust — Continental Maps Vault

Fifty-five countries.
One continental atlas.

An interactive vault of African Union maps — rendered on the Equal Earth projection — visualising gender equality, aid effectiveness, urbanization, climate resilience, food insecurity, trade corridors, border markets, parliamentary foreign-affairs committees, teenage pregnancy, country population, and ratifications of the Maputo Protocol and the African Medicines Agency Treaty. Built to sharpen donor decision-making and amplify continental advocacy.

55AU member states

20indicators & layers

10TAH corridors

12thematic atlases

Indicator

Equal Earth projection · Bojan Šavrič, Tom Patterson, Bernhard Jenny · 2018

Built for evidence, designed for advocacy

Equal Earth projection

Selected over Mercator and Robinson because it preserves the relative area of countries — essential when comparing aid flows or vulnerable populations across the continent. Mercator inflates the global North and distorts policy perceptions; Equal Earth refuses that bias.

Coverage of 55 member states

Includes every African Union member state, including the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. AU regional groupings follow the official five-bloc framework: Northern, Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.

Indicator sources

Gender — UNDP HDR 2023/24 (GII), IPU Parline, WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Maternal Mortality Estimates 2020, ILOSTAT.
Aid — OECD DAC and World Bank WDI (net ODA, 2022 reporting year).
Urbanization — World Bank WDI urban population statistics, 2023.
Climate — University of Notre Dame ND-GAIN Country Index 2023.
Food insecurity — Welthungerhilfe/Concern GHI 2024, FAO SOFI 2024, IPC/GRFC 2024, UNICEF/WHO/WB JME 2024.
Trade corridors — African Union Trans-African Highways Network (Annex I, 10 routes).
Border markets — UNCTAD, CILSS, EAC One-Stop Border Post inventory, AfCFTA Secretariat, FAO/WFP.
Parliamentary committees — IPU Parline + national parliaments, compiled by African Renaissance Trust.

For donor decision-making

Each map exposes top and bottom 5 performers, regional aggregates, and a downloadable PNG for inclusion in concept notes and pitch decks. Country deep-dives summarise the full indicator set on one page — designed for use in proposal annexes and partner briefings.

A pan-African evidence base

The Continental Maps Vault is a public good of the African Renaissance Trust — an independent platform supporting African Union organs, member states and philanthropic partners with continental policy advocacy. The vault is updated as new authoritative data is released, and is designed to be embedded in donor proposals, AU side-event materials, and partner concept notes.