victoria-piroian/human-development-index-driven-foreign-aid-allocation

Data science project predicting Human Development Index (HDI) in Africa using alternative socio-health indicators and optimizing international aid allocation via linear regression, cross-validation, and constrained convex optimization to maximize quality of life under real-world budget and demand constraints. # Improving Quality of Life: Optimal Financial Aid Allocation ## Overview This project applies data science, predictive modeling, and mathematical optimization to design an evidence-based international aid allocation strategy for Africa. The goal is to predict Human Development Index (HDI) using features that can be directly improved through financial aid, and then optimally allocate a fixed budget across resources to maximize quality of life. The workflow includes: - Data integration: Merging multi-source global development datasets (health, sanitation, water access, HDI, country mapping). - Data preprocessing: Country-level cleaning, missing value imputation, normalization, and consistency harmonization. - Feature engineering: Distribution correction using transformations and engineered feature evaluation. - Dataset filtering: Continent-level analysis and Africa-specific modeling. - Predictive modeling: HDI regression modeling using k-fold cross-validation. - Model evaluation: Performance analysis using train/test R², prediction stability, and coefficient interpretation. - Optimization modeling: Budget-constrained convex optimization for aid allocation. - Sensitivity analysis: Binding and non-binding constraint evaluation. --- ## Key Features ### Data Preprocessing - Multi-source dataset integration (WHO, Our World in Data, Oxford Martin School) - Country name normalization and consistency handling - Modular missing-data imputation functions - Country-level and continent-level filtering - Structured feature selection - Removal of non-actionable policy variables ### Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) - Continent-level development comparison - Developing country distribution analysis - Life expectancy and development indicators - Africa-focused scope selection - Distribution analysis and skew detection - Correlation analysis ### Feature Engineering - Distribution correction using square-root transformations - Feature normalization - Automated feature combinatio …