This is a volunteer run project mapping rural Tanzania into Openstreetmap - an open source map available to everyone for navigation, planning, and monitoring of services. We are adding schools, clinics, villages, road and water points using a combination of satellite images, open government data and training locals on the ground with mobile apps. We prioritise areas where girls are at risk of FGM so that advocacy staff know where the villages are so can reach the girls at risk quickly.
Rural Tanzania is very poorly mapped. Villages of 10,000 people do not appear making navigation and planning very hard. This affects the 35 million people who live in rural areas, with generally very poor access to water, health and education. District Medical Officers lack maps of the clinics they manage, District Education Officers lack maps of their schools. Having maps online, on mobile apps and on paper in village offices will enable citizens to navigate and officials to improve services
We have recruited over 17000 online volunteers who are mapping roads & villages from satellite images, and adding school and clinic locations from open data. We are training local people to develop and use maps of their communities to improve services. We have started with the area where girls are at risk of FGM so that they can be protected before the cutting season in December. This is a long term project to map all of rural Tanzania to enable better navigation and transparency of services.
Having freely available maps of rural Tanzania will allow the 35 million citizens there to be represented, navigate their communities and work to ensure the relevant Sustainable Development Goals are met. This will help people see where schools, clinics and water points need to be built and improved. It will allow citizens, NGOs and visitors to navigate the area, share their location and better understand the value of maps.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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