One road goes a long way: the impact of maps in rural Tanzania

One road goes a long way:

the impact of maps in rural Tanzania

Egle Marija Ramanauskaite

CO-FOUNDER & RESEARCHER

Crowd2Map: we didn't mean to map.. :)

LOCAL CITIZEN

SCIENCE IDEAS

FOR EDUCATION

MOBILE DATA

COLLECTION AS ONE

OF THE OPTIONS

WHOA! We can add

those to the map

IMMEDIATE

INTEREST: LOCATION

OF WATER POINTS

Problems to solve... FGM & rural development

Mugumu Safe House -

established in 2014,

operating in the Mara region

of Tanzania

Saving girls from practice of

FGM, but region largely blank

on OSM/Google - not clear

where any villages are

++ Overall development in rural Tanzania.

Fuzzy realization that maps could help!

Since 2015, we have done...

... so what?

Impact of maps is... obvious?

No "obvious" things to a researcher :)

Need to measure it!

Quantitative data? Patchy at

best. Measure something that is

barely recorded..? Impact of

maps that have just been

created..?

Qualitative data? Talking to

people - much more interesting!

But not all that easy...:) April 2016

Interviews & (for lack of better option)

online survey

Community

members

(5)

Community

leaders

C2M local

volunteers  (4)

(4) Group interview

(village community)

(1)

Community members... Type 1: "Never seen" a map! Even if

linked to mapping programme. Not

aware of maps until it's pointed out

Type 2: Don't have access to a map,

but have seen one (in village office,

e.g.). Modest awareness why maps

could be useful (mostly navigation)

Type 3: Have used maps before but

don't have access now. Modest

awareness why maps could be useful

Type 4: Have used maps before,

continue to use them & can list many

reasons why maps are useful

(development, humanitarian purposes)

LINKED TOOUR MAPPINGPROGRAMME

HAVE ACCESS TOMAPS,

PAPER/PHONE

DON'T HAVEACCESS TO

MAPS

"NEVER SEEN"A MAP

HAVE GOODKNOWLEDGE

ABOUT MAP USES

KNOW MAPSCOULD BEUSEFUL !

Some interesting points...

Unaware they've seen a map until you point out an atlas or

a map in village office

Even driver in the Safe House where we're mapping, "has not

seen a map". How is this information shared then..?

Even those who "have not seen a map" know it's basic uses,

such as navigation, and would like to use maps

Everyone very enthusiastic about the ability to learn to

map their area & use the map

In general, the majority of the community does not use maps

Locals use "maps"... but it's not what we think

One interviewee said she used maps in her home town. But ...

[translated] "They didn't have a paper map, it's so only that she grew up in

that place, so she knew... she knew the shortcuts. But they didn't have maps.

So she was using her knowledge, having stayed there since she was born &

knowing where to go, which way to use. That was what helped her, but not maps."

And...

"There was this community member, 55 years old... He drew us a drainage map

using his head. He had a piece of paper, then he had to [draw] everything. And

when we went to the site, it was actually the same thing. So I was very amazed

by that guy.”

But what if you're out of your home town?

Some of the most usual ways of navigating includes...

"You find the people who know the way, we may follow a volunteer, volunteer

like... Joana. We may call her 'come, we want to go to some area - which way

you can pass?'. Joana directs you... 'you're supposed to pass this way, or that

way'."

REACHING THE SAFE HOUSE:

"There's not been any cases when girls used a map. Because they just ask in the

villages where is the Safe House, and the activists direct them. 'To reach the

Safe House, you need to go to road that leads to the hospital, and then turn

right, and then reach the Giraffe hotel...'"

Everyone excited about paper maps!

Specific cases too, such as GIRLS REACHING THE SAFE HOUSE:

"If they had paper maps it would be much easier for them; because when they

have map they would be sure if they’ll reach the place; because sometimes they

might meet someone who is still keeping traditional practices and they will try

to cheat them, say 'better go back, I don’t know where the Safe House is'"

Paper maps might be optimal in rural settings:

“Using the paper maps will be great for rural areas. Right now they don’t have

access to smartphones, and if they do, they have internet issues. So if they

have offline maps, such as paper maps, I think that would be great."

In the Safe House maps are more than basic

navigation...

Know where activist houses are in each village

Select, change & quickly coordinate "safe

places" - girls "assembly points", in case

parents find any

Pick optimal routes & plan fuel costs (limited

resources)

Pick the best roads, so they can get to the

girls faster

Rhobi, director of the Mugumu Safe House:

"In the beginning it was very difficult to

save girls. Because we didn’t have maps to

use, and it was very difficult. We didn't

know where are the villages, what roads we

can use, where are the safe roads; we were

all new to the area, we would be late

sometimes, would go through bad roads, and be

late, and even some girls would be cut,

because they were reached by parents. In the

last year it’s been improved."

For now virtually impossible to quantitatively

assess impact of maps on reducing FGM, but...

We're using GIS to

identify FGM

clusters, unmapped

regions (priority)

Last year building

density helped

identify villages

where girls were

waiting for helphttp://www.fragosus.pe.hu/Janet2/dashboard.htm

But data is so patchy, deeper analysis is

not yet possible

Crowdsourced FGM data at the Safe House not

representative of the region

DHS data self-reported, non-representative,

different years, before mapping...

So many factors could be involved in such a

complex issue as preventing FGM!

More systematic data collection & assessing

change might be possible in the future

Not just FGM - locals recognize benefits

for rural development Defining ward boundaries, resolving disputes

Dividing wards (happens)

Identifying resources, e.g. land use

Knowing where essential services are & better planning, e.g. education & health facilities

General empowerment of communities to tackle own problems

"[Identifying] which are the challenges in each village,

and each community can plan best."

But better maps... is just the beginning

Currently maps are incomplete - only remote

mapping & Maps.me points - not fully usable

People in rural areas don't have access to

phones

Printed maps are not distributed, unless it's

ward offices - should be all kinds of public

facilities at least

COMMUNITIES NEED TO BE EDUCATED & MADE AWARE OF

THE USE OF MAPS !!

"What would be the next big improvement in the

map for *you*?"

"...increase the number of people,  teach them how to use our maps, bring them

the hard copy, teach them to use phones. Now its’ just girls and volunteers..."

Community members agree: what matters most is...

"Continue to do mapping, but also involving different people in the community:

 government leaders, village leaders, the community in general. Continuing

education of village communities about the importance of mapping..."

But progress is being made!

Girls who graduate Safe House

are trained to map!!

Enthusiastic to continue &

teach their communities (but

phones - limitation)

Community mappers map & teach

communities enabled by HOT

microgrant

WE'RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK... BUT IT'S NOT

JUST ABOUT THE MAP!

Lastly... why impact of maps is not an easy

question to try to answer! Long list...

Researcher not in Tanzania! :) Interviews collected by colleague -

Janet

But - inconsistent due to circumstances, non-exhaustive

Translator often needed. Which is fine, but translator -->

interviewee --> translator --> audio transcript ... losing bits of

info!

Surveys useless! Need to take your time & dive into conversation,

often narratives to find out what's real

But what *is* real? Some, especially officials, tell you what you

want to hear...

They don't want to admit nobody uses maps! But some do - and

propose solutions!

It takes a village...           

2000 Crowd2Map volunteers &

community leaders!!!

crowd2map.org

seplute [email protected]