A meeting of the minds – mappers, videographers, editorial board & SMS reporters

by: September 8th, 2010 comments: 0

The Map Kibera family is continually growing. The groups and activities – Mapping, Voice of Kibera, Kibera News Network – we are involved with multiply and evolve in exciting and unexpected ways. Each group has its own history and set of current activities. Everyone involved has a unique talents, skills and interests, which contribute to the success of the Map Kibera programme.

These projects come together intuitively and almost seamlessly online. One challenge that arises however is that the groups and individuals do not necessarily collaborate offline (very often).

On August 30th, 2010 the Map Kibera family (about 40 people in total) came together for the first time at the NaiLab. The main objective of the day was for everyone to get to know each other and the work that they’ve been doing. A second objective was to explore how we could collaborate and work more closely offline. Most importantly we wanted to recognize the achievements and challenges of each group so far and identify goals for the future.

The Map Kibera family!

The Map Kibera family!

A summary of the achievements of all 3 groups

  • Networking and meeting new people in Kibera, Kenya and around the world
  • Recognition of our work within the community and globally
  • Leading the way in terms of information sharing in Kenya
  • Positive learning experiences within the group(s)
  • Learning more about the people and geography of Kibera
  • Gaining new skills (e.g. computer skills, camera handling, video editing, GIS including OpenStreetMap, etc.)

And the challenges

  • Hostility and suspicion from some community members which sometimes leads to demands for payment in exchange for information
  • Difficulty in raising awareness about the different websites within the community
  • Limited financial resources result in the need to balance volunteering for the group with the need to make a living
  • Lack of professional skills
  • Technical glitches related to the different web-based software we use
  • Lack of equipment and other resources

Group and personal goals:

  • To work together to make one strong team
  • To share information and helping the community in Kibera
  • To create jobs and train others
  • To become a better public speaker
  • To gain personal, professional skills
  • To improve technical skills
  • To become professional media group(s) handling 1st hand information from Kibera

We are committed to adding to the list of achievements, addressing the challenges and, over time, meeting the personal and group goals. Everyone is looking forward to the collaboration and work online and (more importantly) offline!

A special thanks to Rose Nyawira who joined us from Community Clean Services (CCS) – we look forward to working with her again in the near future!

Rose facilitating a team building exercise

Rose facilitating a team building exercise

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