‘Correct the map’ – how we made it happen

Will the UN’s non-binding resolution to scrap the old Mercator projection, which distorts the relative size of the world’s continents (See Story – At last Africa in its full glorious size), make any difference to how the world perceives Africa?

Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa – two advocacy organisations focused on shaping fairer and progressive perceptions about Africa – launched the “Correct the Map” campaign in 2024. The campaign received the formal support of the AU in June 2025, secured the unanimous vote of AU member states in February this year, and was carried to the UN by Togo.

Robert Dussey, Togo’s Foreign Minister, said: “A fair map does not change the geography of the world; it changes how we see the world.”

Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter, tells New African that the success of the campaign marks a turning point in how the world sees Africa –  and how Africans see themselves.

“I think it was phenomenal that we had 164 votes. The world is behind us. When Africa comes together, the world will support us,” she says.

She notes that “a lot of people knew that the map was the wrong size but didn’t do anything about it.” This inspired her and others to launch the campaign.

The breakthrough, she says, came when Professor Carlos Lopes of the University of Cape Town joined the effort.  “He has been talking about the map of Africa for a long time and is quite passionate about it. He came on board and advised us extensively on what he thought we should be doing.”

Lopes not only gave the campaign the intellectual weight it needed, but also helped open the right doors within the AU. “He connected us to the Deputy Chairperson of the AU [Ambassador Selma Malika Haddadi]. I remember we had a phone call and she agreed to come on board.”

The deputy chairperson’s voice and personal endorsement gave the campaign new momentum and global visibility. “It just took off from there.”

For Makura, the UN resolution calling for the use of fairer maps is important for both symbolic and practical reasons.

“The symbolism is that for over 400 years we have been minimised. If you think about the fact that this was hiding in plain sight, what else about Africa is the world underestimating that’s also hiding in plain sight?

“Then there is the practical impact, which is basically the fact that we are teaching our children the wrong information. The data and facts are wrong. Africa is bigger than Greenland, than America and China.”

But not all are convinced of the benefits of revising global maps. The United States cast the sole vote against the campaign, dismissing it as part of a “radical ideological project.”

“It is their opinion,” Makura responds, “I don’t know that that vote represents all of America, because the support that we’ve seen has been overwhelming.”

“We have had a few detractors say, ‘You need to focus on more important things’. But my response is always the same. We are not choosing between fixing the map and building infrastructure or roads. We are doing both. Africa has the bandwidth to do both.”

Sustaining the momentum

The next step, Makura says, is ensuring that the resolution moves into implementation, starting with schools on the continent.

“We will be asking education ministers in African countries to pass policies locally to ensure that all government schools phase out textbooks that use the old projection,” she says. “We are asking partners including publishers to come on board to help with this.”

The other priority is convincing global tech platforms like Google and Apple to change how Africa is projected on their maps. This is proving to be an uphill battle, she admits.

“When Trump asked for Lake Ontario to be changed to Lake America, Google within a very short space of time changed it for Americans. So if you were in the US, you would see ‘Lake America’ instead of ‘Lake Ontario’. That means they can make changes to the map instantaneously if they want.”

“They haven’t done it for us yet. But we must keep asking and can’t let it go. We can’t just say ‘oh well they said no’ because that is how we let it go for over 400 years,” she notes.

Misperceptions about the true size of Africa relative to other regions are just one of several unfair characterisations of the continent that Makura is determined to dismantle. Another major one, she says, is the persistent notion that “Africa is broken.”

“Everyone wants to fix us. We always talk about the problems of Africa and all the things that are not working as if nothing is working…we are not perfect, but we are not broken,” she states.

Another prevalent misperception is that Africa is deeply dependent on the rest of the world for its growth and development. “We are not completely free, but we have made progress,” she says, citing examples like South Africa’s health financing reforms and the concerted push by resource-rich African countries to process minerals locally instead of exporting them in raw form.

How can African leaders counter inaccurate narratives and help promote a fairer representation of their continent? Makura is convinced that they must invest in telling better stories about what is working out on the continent.

“I think one of the most important things countries and leaders can do is to invest in ensuring that their story is right.”

“We have made progress. The problem is that we are not very good at telling the stories of our progress. That is why for us, the next step [after Correct the Map] is a campaign called ‘Opportunity Africa’ which is a visibility platform for citizens, businesses and governments to come and share what they are doing.”

“You do not have to wait until everything is perfect for you to start sharing what you’re doing well. I always ask, who put the ‘great’ in Great Britain? We have to put the ‘great’ in Africa because nobody is going to do it for us.”