You may have seen a lot of action from @PrimozKovacic today on Twitter. That’s because Map Kibera is set to facilitate Map Mukuru!
In 2010, Map Kibera worked with HIV Free Generation and Emory University to offer training in GPS data collection and OpenStreetMap (OSM) tools to youth engaged in health asset mapping. In previous years, the HIV Free Generation and Emory team had worked with a large mapping firm to produce maps of health assets in the area. The team soon realized that capacity for data collection and mapping of the area needed to be built locally – enter Map Kibera.
Our team facilitated a brief 3 day training and followed up with some data collection and OSM support in the following weeks. During that time, we were impressed by the enthusiasm and skills of the youth in Mukuru (view their work in OSM here).
In late 2010, when the Map Kibera mappers were awarded a UNHABITAT Youth Fund grant we immediately thought of Mukuru. We had kept in touch with Vincent Mutuku and Moses Wahor, two of the star mappers from Mukuru. They had been asking when we could come back to Mukuru. We reached out to them again and they were excited to continue mapping their community.
Mukuru is made up of 3 distinct areas – Mukuru kwa Ruben, Mukuru kwa Njenga and Kayaba. The 2010 mapping only focused on Mukuru kwa Njenga and the health assets in that area. Our challenge for the coming months is to map the entire 3 areas based on community priorities.
The first planning meeting for Map Mukuru was held on 29th June 2011 at Map Kibera office. The meeting was attended by Vincent and Moses (the two Mukuru coordinators), Kibera Mappers and Map Kibera management.
During the meeting, the team discussed the steps in the mapping process. Based on our experience in Kibera and Mathare, we identified the following questions and ideas:
- What are we going to do?
- We should involve community leaders who know the location
- We need to have community meetings to identify their views and priorities
- We need equipment and supplies eg GPS, computers, stationary.
- We need a base of operation (or 2-3 bases because of the size of Mukuru)
- Identify the number of mappers in Mukuru  (again, based on the size of the area)
- Number of local coordinators – we have 2 so far!
- Decide on a Time frame – (which is 5 months as outlined in the Youth Fund proposal)
- Be sure to gather feedback from the community after the first mapping
- We need to print maps and distribute them to the community (Hard copies)
We agreed that the Kibera mappers will provide overall leadership, experience and training, but the people of Mukuru people will map their own villages.
Between June 29th and August 1st, Vincent and Moses identified two operational bases in Mukuru (at Goal Kenya and St. Mary’s Church).  They also set about mobilizing important stakeholders, including the local administration in the area (District Commissioners, District Officers, Chiefs). They also approached over 100 youth groups, NGOs and women’s groups in the areas to determine their interest in the mapping project. All the community mobilization efforts paid off and the 1st community forum today attracted 150 guests! We’ll be holding a second forum on Friday.
Keep your eyes on the blog for further updates.
[…] will be when government officials from OpenDataKE and slum dwellers from Kibera and Mathare (and Mukuru) openly collaborate and work together. Can’t wait to see this happen. To get there, I […]
[…] received the Unhabitat youth fund grant in order to expand its work to other parts of Nairobi. Given the existing ties with Mukuru (an informal settlement in Nairobi’s industrial area) and the demand for training from young […]
we’re very happy with the work that we have done so far in mukuru on mapping and we’re really working very hard to accomplish the remaining work within the given time frame that we have. we hope and really ;look forward to continue mapping and at the same time continue up-dating our maps for the benefit of the community and community stake holders,
we really need alot of support from the interested parties to continue with this work, if you need your area to be mapped please contact us on mobile phone no. 254720074530 or e-mail me on mwahor@yahoo.com or follow me on twitter: mukuruonthemove.wordpress.com
we’re back on track to continue from where we left and every thing is running smoothly let’s move and finish mapping mukuru, hey guys let’s join the mappers to map mukuru