20100322 Map Kibera Meeting Minutes

From Map Kibera

Melissa Tully's Notes

Map Kibera Vision meeting (KCODA Office) 23 March 2010

Goal of the meeting: Hand out and discuss concept paper and future plans of the Ground Truth Initiative

* Ground Truth Initiative (name of the organization)

o Larger goals for wider initiatives and for next 6 months

• Thoughts from mappers? And discussion about plan

o Ken: it’s a good idea but unclear on how everything is related (Mikel mentions mind map to explain)

o Erica: we’re working with a lot of groups now so need to discuss the best format for all these things to interact; what will come under MK group and what will be more under affiliates

o Ken: it’s good but seems too short-term (Mikel: what happens after 6 months, you mean?)

o Mikel: need to have some measure of autonomy for funding and a plan, but things will inevitably change

o Lucy: question about SMS component and corruption?

o Mikel: more broad than just corruption; we just missed that in the document; corruption is disturbing to the political community but service delivery isn’t as controversial and can be addressed more explicitly

o Douglas: SMS is almost ready to go

o Erica: some of the stuff has already come up in planning meetings with UNICEF but hasn’t come up here yet

o Ken: Is it a broader initiative?

o Douglas: SODNET already does this and are very involved in technology (Ken: so we don’t need to replicate things); pilot project with KCODA; working directly with Phillip on this

o Mikel: It’s called synergy so we want to bring things together around what you’ve done but there’s a lot of technology involved so a lot of technology coordination and overlap that need to be worked out (partnering requires coordination); have to deal with all the tech

o Erica: a lot of things going on simultaneously so we want to be more clear on what’s going on and what decisions we want to make on organizational structure

o Mikel: so you have a map, what do you do with it? Where do you go from there? That’s why we created this. A lot of other roles for the group

o Erica: a lot of this can be used for advocacy because you have so much information that you can use; our vision is to empower people with information

o Millicent: On the activities, the timeframe that was given, can we achieve our goals? It’s only 6 months

o Mikel: meeting tomorrow to discuss the details of the timeline and what’s actually possible; shared concern when it comes to the expansion in the next 6 months--at some point we have to make a decision on what has the highest priority

o Ken: we need to be really equipped before we go on to other areas

o Mikel: when I get back from U.S., we’ll start focusing on the different sectors starting with health and part of that will be lots of training (old and new things that mappers need to learn from evaluation of pilot and the map); we need to do a pristine job on data collection; plenty of opportunity for more training

o Erica: should we go through section by section?

o Douglas: focus on what is here, not what is not here

o Mikel: This is where we’re going but we want to find out from you what you think; what doesn’t make sense?

o Erica: we want to give a broader sense of mission, what’s the broader purpose; what other uses of the internet and technology can help the community gather information? You have the opportunity to be the eyes and ears of the community and others don’t have that, including policy makers; how do they know what’s even there? There’s no way for outsiders to have that knowledge that you have, but rather than only putting it on the map, you can add more detail for action; we want to introduce you to tools that you can use for better info gathering and dissemination and you can decide what tools are best and which are not; different platforms, including the internet to present local stories and what’s truth; we need to establish a larger organization to take this idea global

o Ken: going nationwide with the headquarters here

o Mildred: I’m not understanding the last section

o Mikel: that section is more for us

o Douglas: how consultation comes about… people with experience are the ones that can consult; gov’t consults as on definition of community media; and now community media is part of government

o As an idea this is very intriguing to others outside of Kibera (trying to do similar projects in other communities)

o Erica: It’s not just a map, but it’s a different way of understanding and sharing information; it’s research and you’ve already done it; how can we actually improve conditions and issues that haven’t been addressed.

• Mikel drawing the mind map as another way of explaining the concept and the relationships between various people and organizations involved in the project

o Media and mapping (some people doing one, some doing both)

o Lots of technology being used

o VofK takes all the media and puts it on the map (another output)

o Relationship between groups and support

o SODNET and GIS people helping with the mapping

o Tech support from others

o Stuff Mikel deals with to make the whole thing happen (OSM)

o Constantly adapting and figuring out M and E’s relationship in the long-term

o Funders who make things go (right now, that’s UNICEF)

o SMS monitors component (still developing)

o Connect the technology into this flow (people are already acting as monitors but want to introduce tech into what they do)

o Where are we now? And what’s the point?

§ Our vision is for the group to have technical skills, and know and care about the place they are living; want to see place improve and change; idea of the greater good

§ Bridging the gap between Kibera and service providers (gov’t, private, NGOs, UN, local groups, local administration)

§ Disconnect between what’s happening in Kibera and what’s being delivered

§ Worth investing time and effort to help bridge the gap

§ When you have technology and ways of communicating things out, you’re in a unique position to connect the community to the service providers

§ Tech + passion + knowledge (need all components)

§ Once you produce a website the Service Providers need to take more notice of what’s actually going on

o In addition to the Kenyan audience, there’s an global audience

o Tremendous interest globally (i.e. UNICEF)

o General public in Kenya and globally- can change public opinion and perception of Kibera by outsiders

o SODNET is very rooted in the community and connected to the gov’t; use technology to achieve their goals

o Community engagement- how do people in Kibera know about all this? Not everyone has Internet access so we’re proposing community meetings to explain more about what this means in context and locally (the 4 sectors)

o Community meetings with presentations of your work and paper maps to enhance info collection and dissemination

o SODNET will organize a public accountability forum in 3 months

o SMS monitors key of community engagement

o Technology can really help to facilitate discussion and engagement with all the stakeholders

• Ken: how can we assure some action will be taken?

o Can’t guarantee action, but can help bring down walls between local and government

o Making information available online to reach greater public including government (the Prime Minister can use his blackberry to receive the information instead of me having to go to him with some piece of paper.)

o Things that everyone can see (locally, nationally, globally)

• Melissa: Not just circles and arrows but a network with tech and media as the tools for sustaining and promoting those relationships; importance of building and sustaining a strong network to achieve goals

• Presentation to Acumen on Wednesday (need volunteers)
  * Closing: Importance of filling people in on what has happened here today, especially before the planning meeting tomorrow