Map Kibera

First we would like to thank ESRI East Africa for giving us the opportunity to be part of their 7th user conference. The Map Kibera Trust members present at the conference were Zachariah Muindi and Maureen Omino. This year’s theme was “Experience Geopower in the East African Rift” and the choice of the venue was great because it was just in line with the theme of the year, with it being located in the Rift Valley, on the shores of Lake Naivasha, with the Olkaria geothermal power station just a few km away, providing a good site to go for the conference safari.

The conference was just a wonderful experience that created a conducive environment for networking, sharing and learning with participants from different parts of the world, from different organizations and institutions.. The sessions were so awesome, interactive and educative. The opening session was graced by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Land, who shared the changes that have taken place in the ministry thanks to GIS. Most of the maps that the ministry had were so outdated and the introduction of GIS to the ministry was a major boost to creation and publishing of new maps and constant updating of the maps. In one way the Ministry of Land affects a lot of ministries in Kenya therefore if wrong and outdated data is dished out automatically it will affect the services provided by the other ministries.

We would also like to congratulate the different organizations that scooped this year’s award at the User Conference for their outstanding job. This is clear enough that the use of the mapping has brought a huge relief to many organizations, government ministries, municipalities’ problems. The sessions at the conference were divided into two; there was the industrial sessions that focused on the applicability of ArcGIS to come up with solutions for different issues that affect human settlements, wildlife, nature e.t.c.

My colleague Maureen presented (slides here) in one of the sessions on mapping slum areas using OpenStreetMap and ArcGIS. She explained the whole work that we have been doing as a Trust starting from our Kibera pilot project, to the work that we have done in Mathare and finally on the current work that we are doing in Mukuru, and how we use GIS in creating and publishing our maps. The feedback after the presentation was just great. We also prepared and presented a paper at the conference that explained in detail the work that we have done in Kibera, Mathare and especially in Mukuru. It highlights the whole process that we undertook from the word go in Mukuru, from identifying the area, organizing community forums, to data collection and editing the data and the creation and publishing of the final maps.

There was also a presentation on crime mapping and analysis using a web based portal by Simon Ngegi Njuguna, where he shared how technology can be introduced to the police department to curb the rising issues of insecurity. Web based platforms can engage the public to report any incidence of insecurity, and once the report is sent to the police it can be analyzed and be published to the public as a warning, be used to communicate with the police on the ground about the exact location of the incidence and the easiest and fastest way they can reach there. And I do believe if this is implemented it would be a milestone to the police department that would help them serve the public efficiently and protect them. More details check out the presentation.

From the conference we learnt that there are other ArcGIS services that we can in cooperate in the work that we doing as Map Kibera, apart from the one that we have been using to create maps. We can also work with ESRI East Africa and see how they can help us bring in the new system where we saw with the use of a simple smartphone you can collect data from the field, send it to someone who is in the office, and he can analyze the data prepare a map using the data and publish to the public and other key stakeholders that are associated with information. We think this could be helpful for us as a Trust, especially now that we are starting the project on election monitoring.

The Global Voices Summit, was a good opportunity for Map Kibera to get exposure, share and interact with different bloggers from all over the world.

On 2nd July, which was the first day of the summit, at 2pm when the Map Kibera team of Joshua Owino [KNN], Steve Oduor [KNN], Lucy Fondo [Mapper], Cosmas [map Mathare], Javin Ochieng [Map Mathare], Sande Wycliff [V.O.K], Yvonne Tiany [ Map Mathare], Vincent [Mukuru] and Kepha Ngito [Map Kibera Trust Director] took to the panel to present about map kibera trust.

Joshua and I shared how KNN, started, what we do with the limited resources we have to bring about change in our community.

Members of these different programs under map kibera trust shared in detail what they have been able to achieve in the 2- year approximate time that map kibera has existed.

Lucy Fondo speaking. Photo by @rezwan

For instance, Lucy Fondo , one of the mappers present at the summit, explained how, by the use of GPS gadgets, they have been able to map different facilities within Kibera and later been able to revise the maps in different topics that affect the community directly such as health, education, security and Water & Sanitation.

These maps have played a great role in improving the services offered by the government in these respective topics, for example, the local governing authorities have used the security map to help improve security especially around the black spots identified in the map. the map on water and sanitation has also been of great importance to the government-owned Nairobi Water Company which has relied on the map, to identify areas in Kibera hit by water shortage.

KNN on the other hand, use flip camera to make video on issues and happenings in different areas within Kibera, through the Youtube channel, www.youtube.com/kiberanewsnetwork which are linked to the map created by the mappers thus helping to identify on the map what happens at a particular place.

Sande Wycliff of Voice of Kibera explained how through ushahidi platform, they have been able to get the community members to send reports that come as text messages on the site, www.voiceofkibera.org , on events and things that take place within Kibera, the report is later verified by a team of editors and then appears on the site. which uses the map to show where a certain report was sent from.

Sande, Joshua, Steve, and Vincent on panel. Photo by @rezwan

Map Kibera also shared how the information sharing has helped improve the community and how it has been extended to slums of Mathare and Mukuru, where other young people like Cosmas, Yvonne, Javin and Vincent, who were also present at the summit, shared their experiences in these respective regions.

On 3rd of July which was the second day of the summit, Map Kibera director Kepha Ngito gave a presentation with an overview of the whole trust and it’s relation to the community where he later answered questions from participants.

Steve, KNN

In 2010, Map Kibera was awarded a Youth Fund grant from Unhabitat. With the many developments in the Map Kibera project, the

Mildred and Mukuru residents with hand-drawn village boundraies (photo credit: Primoz Kovacic)

Youth Fund grant was delayed until mid-2011. Some of the other initiatives the team was working on included the establishment of the local agency Map Kibera Trust, with support from the Africa Technology and Transparency Initiative and the expansion to work (led by Map Kibera Trust ) to Mathare and Kwale.

Map Kibera Trust 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 people who had been introduced to mapping in 2009 and 2010, the mappers decided to implement the youth fund grant in Mukuru.

The Unhabitat youth fund grant is designed to support organizations led by young people in developing countries. The grant involves a component of skills development; young people from selected organizations are trained in project management, documentation and budgeting. The young people then put their newly acquired skills into action throughout the project lifecycle.

Primoz and I have been supporting the mappers in Kibera, however we believe the best way to learn is through experience. And so in order to see them develop the new skills, we have taken a step back and supported the project mainly through some limited technical assistance. The field work and documentation has been led by Mildred Anekeya, the mapper coordinator (herself a young mapper from Kibera) and Vincent Mutuku and Moses Wahor, young mappers from Mukuru.

Below is a question and answer from Mildred, Vincent and Moses that documents their experiences in mapping Mukuru during the first half of the youth fund grant cycle.  Their insights are important to those undertaking similar projects in similar contexts. These answers were submitted to Unhabaitat as part of a mid-term report.

What is the progress you have made [in mapping Mukuru]?

First of all we held two successful community forums, in Mukuru kwa Reuben and Mukuru Kayaba, which sensitized the community on the importance of mapping before we launched it. Finally we will hold other forums to confirm the mapping that we have done to the community.

We were been able to cover all five villages of Mukuru which are Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mukuru kwa Rueben, Mukuru Lungalunga, Sinai and Mukuru kayaba. We were able to train 24 trainees in data collection which involved usage of GPS gadgets, downloading the data, editing and uploading it which involved gaining of computer knowledge. We had problems like getting approval from the local authorities but we had to convince on what to implement on the ground and later they had to approve us. We also faced minor problems from the participants which are commitment towards the training and some were demanding allowance for their time, but after giving them the importance of the training they had to commit themselves fully. Insecurity was also one the problems but we had to find ways to curb it, and this was to work the residents from the same village.

What problems have you encountered during the first phase of the project?

At first we encountered problems from the administration, allowances of the trainees they were not ready to work without being paid, insecurity especially in Mukuru Kayaba and lack of commitment from the trainees especially Mukuru Kayaba where initially we had about 12 trainees and they all left remaining with 4. The obstacles that we faced in technical issues were: too few computers which led to extension of the timeframe and also it took time for the participants to catch up with what we were teaching them. Less internet modems which lead to limited internet access.

How did you overcome these problems?

Coordinators from Mukuru had to talk to the administration concerning the project and convince them for approval. They also coordinated and made the availability of the trainee to training centre. They ensured security was intact and organized for the venues. This made the mapping process run smoothly despite the challenges. Concerning technical issues we had to make use of what we had at hand and the administration of the  Map Kibera Trust made sure that we full credits for the modems and the computers were available each time we needed them.

What project activities are planned for the next 6 months?

Drawing of boundaries of the villages and their zones, drawing of paths and tracks, drawing the industries and also showing how they are close to residential areas which can be used to explain some of the risks that people in slums are prawn to, like in the case of Sinai tragedy.

Finalizing on the mapping process and ensuring that the trainees are able to comprehend what we taught them.

Making follow up on all the stakeholders that would be interested in using the final maps in their work groups such as Administration, Youth, women groups, trainees, Community based and Faith based organizations.

To understand the spread of development in every particular village and also make conclusion on how the developments could be enhanced.

Any other comments?

The mapping exercise is a very unique method of bringing out problems in informal settlements; hence it should be enhanced to cover all the slums in Kenya. The trainees will need to have ongoing exercises less they forget what they learned, this can be improved by having substations in Mukuru.