Featured Project
Malaria prevention and control remains a U.S. foreign assistance objective and the Presidents Malaria Initiative strategy aligns with ending preventable child and maternal deaths and ending extreme poverty. PMI works with supported countries and partners to further reduce malaria deaths and decrease malaria morbidity, towards the long-term goal of elimination.
Data created from this mapping effort will help USAID, Peace Corps, and PMI's Indoor Residual Spraying programs in Kenya plan for the upcoming spray campaign. IRS teams apply insecticide to the walls of houses to kill mosquitoes which transmit malaria. These updated maps will help make smart choices on exactly where to spray, and improve spray team activities by providing project managers with improved estimates of the number of households and structures.
MAPPING FOR MALARIA PREVENTION
Kenya
CURRENT MAPPING PROJECTS
INDONESIA
VOLCANIC ERUPTION RISK
Sinabung is an active stratovolcano that has had consistent activity since 2010. The volcano poses a significant risk to those living in close proximity. Recent activity includes eruptions in 2010, 2013, 2014. The latest eruption occurred May 2016, killing 7 Indonesians. For this task, the focus will be on two cities east of the volcano: Berastagi and Kabanjahe. Volunteers will create and improve existing infrastructure data, with a focus on tracing buildings, roads, and inland water features, for the USAID GeoCenter and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.
CAMBODIA, VIETNAM, LAOS
DAMS AND RESERVOIRS
The Lower Mekong Region shares vulnerability to flooding. Watersheds cross national boundaries and make planning for large potential disasters more complex. YouthMappers Virtual Interns working with the USAID GeoCenter are supporting SERVIR's flood preparedness and prevention projects in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Experienced mappers can assist with data creation and validation.
Local Capacity Building Projects
UGANDA
Community Resilience
Communities in the remote region of Karamoja are mapping their world in order to develop greater resilience to shocks affecting them. Students from a number of universities are uniting to develop open data on roads, buildings, and other features. YouthMappers chapters at Busitema University and Uganda Christian University - Mbale are among the participating mappers. Partners also include USAID GeoCenter, AidData, Mapping Day, and HOT.
COLOMBIA
Peace and Development
In light of the historic peace process underway in Colombia, civil society, governments, and foreign assistance agencies are working together to build shared knowledge of areas that had been neglected during years of conflict. Locally defined needs for information such as roads and water sources informs a multi-university engagement to create spatial information. Students in various Colombian universities are reaching out to other Spanish-speaking students. Partners also include USAID GeoCenter, USAID Office of Transition Initiatives, and HOT.
Food, Economy and Health
The intersection of access to adequate food, economic growth, and public health is a nexus that shapes the lives of West Africans such as those in vulnerable areas of Ghana. The large and active student organization of about 800 mappers in Ghana are working to support USAID-defined objectives while learning more about open source mapping platforms and open data creation. Students at the University of Cape Coast and Texas Tech University are collaborating on data efforts. Partners also include USAID GeoCenter and the OSM Ghana community.
GHANA
KENYA
Urban Informal Settlements
Informal settlement in the large city of Nairobi presents a number of chronic development challenges. Students from the University of Nairobi are working with Map Kibera to chart locations of buildings and roads that are critical data for fundamental assistance to these most impoverished urban areas.
BANGLADESH
Hazards and Vulnerability
Bangladesh is vulnerable and at risk to extreme shocks such as climate change. The country has widespread unmapped areas which create difficulty in fostering resilience. Due to monsoons, cyclones, and their low lying geography, the country is often inundated. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and YouthMappers are working with the USAID GeoCenter to engage students at Dhaka University in filling in spatial data gaps and building a strong community of youth involved in mapping their world.
ANGOLA
Basic Needs and Infrastructure
Angola's low level of human development is at odds with its potential for economic prosperity, considering the country's wealth of natural resources. Much of this paradox is explained by the social disruption and physical destruction caused by 27 years of civil war. Efforts are now underway to create open basemap data on roads and settlements, so that basic infrastructure programs and services can be delivered to those who need them most, particularly in rural areas. This effort was initiated by a YouthMappers student from Texas Tech University, born in Angola.
Completed Projects
BANGLADESH
Food Insecurity
This mapping project with Khulna University supported Feed the Future agricultural programs in the Khulna region of Bangladesh. Data on highways, Zilla roads, buildings, and water bodies were edited into OpenStreetMap and made available to the public. The data were created for USAID and its partners working with rural farming villages, especially women, to help communities in the Khulna District improve land management and increase agricultural production in order to improve food security and children's nutrition.
MOZAMBIQUE
Health and Disease Prevention
Malaria prevention and control is a major U.S. foreign assistance objective and critical for ending preventable child and maternal deaths for populations suffering extreme poverty. Remote mapping onto OSM for these districts was completed by numerous YouthMappers chapters around the world so that USAID and Peace Corps Volunteers along with their counterparts on the ground could add local knowledge. The data improved the efficiency and reach of spraying campaigns for malaria prevention.
ECUADOR
Natural Disaster Preparation
In August 2015, Ecuador declared a state of emergency after Cotopaxi shot ash 7 miles into the air on August 2015. The volcano has since continued spewing ash and steam, causing continued concern for those living in the vulnerable areas nearby. USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance helped to increase the amount of OSM open spatial data for the region, since many high populated areas are located nearby – including the nation’s capital, Quito. Several YouthMappers chapters at US universities contributed data and exchanged information with counterparts in Quito.
PHOTO CREDITS: Sutanta Aditya/Getty Images; Wikipedia commons; Titus Mongou, Kenya PMI, Peace Corps, Feed the Future, USAID GeoCenter.