2016 ICT4D Conference

The key to good use of ICTs in development, and to the achievement of the SDGs, is not to use technology to reduce the level of in-person engagement and relationships needed to make a true impact in communities. It is to let the tools become channels for even more interconnectivity. It is to create communities that know how to work with technology to achieve more, and to do more themselves. It's not just about filling in gaps from the outside, but working together and allowing local innovations to rise to the top.

Map Kibera is an important local example of the use of ICTs to transform the relationship between a community and information about that community. We started Map Kibera in 2009 as a pilot to inquire what young people living in extremely challenging circumstances could potentially do with new tools of technology, especially using the open digital mapping tool OpenStreetMap, and the Kenya-based crowdsourcing tool Ushahidi.

We discovered that young people and other engaged citizens are very interested to know the facts about their communities, and to be in the lead in gathering, sharing and understanding information about their communities. These resources can be used to transform their environment. For instance, in the last election cycle Map Kibera members created Youtube video interviews with candidates, monitored polling stations using mobile phones and liaised with security when issues arose, and posted real time data about the elections online. They also collected the location of each and every school in Kibera along with the number of students, teachers, classrooms, costs and more, and published this in an online database. But beyond that, they involved those teachers, students and local education officials.

Open mapping tools, especially when combined with other collaborative technology tools such as Ushahidi, data surveying, and social media, can meaningfully engage communities in the process of achievement of the SDGs while providing excellent data for NGOs, governments, and communities themselves to use.