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Digital technology in the developing world. An in depth look at at how three organizations in the KIbera Slum outside Nairobi, Kenya are using information and communications technology, and in particular, mobile and digital technologies to empower slum residents through:Urban mappingWeb & digital design skillsDigital and social media platforms
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Informal settlements & community empowerment
How digital technology is improving the lives of the young in the world’s slums
“Cities are now home to half of humankind.”
UN Habitat Website 2010
Our world is no longer simply going through the
experience of urbanization.
Our world has become urbanized.
What defines an urban
slum?Access to safe water
Access to improved sanitation
Durability of structures
Sufficient living area (overcrowding)
Access to secure tenure
UN Habitat Slum Indicators - United Nations 2010/11 State of the World’s Cities Report “Bridging the Urban Divide”
Over 1 billion people now live in an urban slum
Or 1 in every 3 urban residents in the world live in a slum.
That number is expected to rise to 2 billion by 2030.
By 2050 95% of the growth of the human population will occur in the urban areas of developing countries.
whose population is expected to double to nearly 4 billion.
Sources: UN-HABITAT, United Nations & Inferring Human Dynamics in Slums Using Mobile Phone
“A firebrand raging across the southern hemisphere.”
Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Design with the Other 90%: CITIES
With growth comesOvercrowding
Unregulated and unsafe housing
Growing risks associated with solid and liquid waste
High levels of informality and lack of access to stable income sources
Social pressures due to limited access to services and deficient infrastructure
61.7% of
people living in
towns and cities in
sub-Saharan Africa
today live in slums
The raging firebrand in Africa
United Nations (2010) UN-HABITAT For A Better Urban Future Report & UN 2010/11 State of the World’s Cities Report “Bridging the Urban Divide;
Africa is home to the largest proportion of young people in
the world today Young people aged 15-24
years represent 18% of the world's population
In most African countries, including Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia those under 25 constitute about or over 70% of the population.
In many African cities more than 50% of inhabitants are under the age of 19.2. UN Habitat Website
Youth are particularly affected by growing urban poverty
High unemployment
Child trafficking and sexual exploitation
The growing phenomenon of street children
Victims of crime and violence
The breakdown of family life
Environmental degradation
Worsening health conditions
The transmission of infectious diseases, and the worsening HIV/AIDS pandemic
ICT’s have been diffusing rapidly among the urban
poor, providing new livelihood opportunities and fostering entrepreneurship (UNCTAD,
2010).
Specific ways ICT is building and empowering slum communities
Urban Mapping & Community Involvement
Urban Health, Risk and Hazard Management
Urban Capacity-Building & Networking
Training and education, and employment
Micro-enterprises
ICT, and in particular, mobile and digital technologies are helping to empower slum
residents and their youth to have a greater control over their lives, communities and
prosperity through
Access to information &
knowledge
3 Organizations providing access to information & knowledge
Urban Mapping
Web and digital design skills
Digital and social media platforms
Community involvement
Training & employment
Entrepreneurship
Self determination
In one urban slum community
Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya……
Spread across 550 acres of government-owned land, 5 kilometers southwest of the city center.
Its population is estimated at anywhere from 200,000 to more than one million, and varies seasonally
World Bank Institute Website
Satellite images show a dense, vibrant settlement
But Google maps shows a quiet farming village
In official registers it is designated a forest
Outsiders are led to believe that Kibera is a kind of hell on earth and are moved
to send cash, while Nairobi’s middle and upper classes tend to avoid it altogether, out of fear or disdain.
“Without basic knowledge of the geography of Kibera it is
impossible to have an informed discussion on how
to improve the lives of residents of Kibera.”
Map Kibera’s Mikel Maron
“We aimed to alter the existing power dynamic by
shifting the information dynamic so that the residents
could use localized information to influence
policy and development.”
Map Kibera’s Erika Hagen
Mapping KiberaPhase One
In 2009 a small group decided to Map Kibera
Openstreetmap
Within three weeks, the mapping team had produced one of the densest maps ever made, labeling "points of interest"
throughout Kibera
Some initial early pay-offs
The participants learned new computer and technology skills.
The mapping experience validated their own community knowledge.
Now they were regarded as holders of important information rather than poorly educated slum dwellers.
NGO’s and local groups were keen to make use of the information
But for whom and what purpose?
Many Kiberans did not see how a map available only online could
benefit them or their community—besides which,
they already knew how to get around.
Empowering through information
Phase Two
Allow Kibera residents to speak for themselves throughExtending the mapping work to
gather more in-depth, issue-based information and to providing paper based maps for residents.
Engaging people in the community through citizen journalism, or reporting by non-professionals on important local issues and news.
Issues based mapping
Health
Security
Education
Water/Sanitatio
n
The pay-offs – for example, on healthcare they learned
What various clinics charged for what services
There is a shortage of affordable maternal health care but they got the address of the best midwife in town
Kibera has no mental health services, dentists, or opticians
Identified low-quality chemists prescribing inappropriate remedies but also these chemists with unlicensed examination rooms play critical roles in healthcare
Especially when people with acute emergencies have to be carried several kilometers along mud paths to the government hospital
Allow Kibera residents to speak for themselves throughExtending the mapping work to
gather more in-depth, issue-based information and to providing paper based maps for residents.
Engaging people in the community through citizen journalism, or reporting by non-professionals on important local issues and news.
A sustainable future?The initiatives are governed by Map
Kibera Trust and they are charity dependent for funding.
But the costs are small using inexpensive mobile technologies and open source platforms
The initiatives are now in the hands of the youth of Kibera with the founders seeking to spread the word globally via the Ground Truth Initiative
A repeatable model – started in the other large Nairobi slum - Map Mathare & Voice of Mathare
3 Organizations providing access to information & knowledge
Urban Mapping
Web and digital design skills
Digital and social media platforms
Community involvement
Training & employment
Entrepreneurship
Self determination
Nairobits Programs
ICT Multimed
ia Program
Reproductive health & HIV-AIDS program
Micro-Entrepreneursh
ip program
Information for poverty alleviation
Life skills and
employability
The Slum Dog Manager
Impact
79% -
engaged in employment, self-employment, internship and/or community service since program completion
74%- engaged
in employment, self-employment, internship and/community service and/or continued education sinceprogram completion
2010 Youth Empowerment Program Evaluation
64% - unemployed before program commencement
98% perceive the future will be better for themselves and their families after the program
74% of
participants rated themselves good or higher in 10 out of 13 life skill attributes
Outcomes
Anne Ikiara - CEO of NairoBits Winner of the 2011 Anita Borg Social Impact Award – Sponsored By Microsoft
“Anne has enabled more than 6,000 women and girls from urban poor settlements across the African region to gain ICT skills that have improved their lives economically, socially-culturally and politically”. Anita Borg Institute 2011
Creating more empowerment through knowledge
A (serious) game which simulates the complexity of life in the slums, the scarcity of resources, how to deal with them and prevent escalation of conflict. .
Train teachers in North Nigeria in the use of an interactive SRH program (learning about living).
Building Bridges is a campaign to encourage, map and connect peace initiatives in Kenya.
Sustainability - funders & partners
"Our resources are not enough in Africa - we need more local people to help us," Wook Ko, Samsung Marketing Manager for the Middle East and Africa
2010 Youth Empowerment Program Evaluation
Sustainability - clients
Partners by outsourcing web design clients to NairoBits MediaLab.
3 Organizations providing access to information & knowledge
Urban Mapping
Web and digital design skills
Digital and social media platforms
Community involvement
Training & employment
Entrepreneurship
Self determination
“My ultimate goal is to get everyone talking to one
another”John Karanja
Founder,Whive
A bright future?100,000 user subscriptions and
modest growth.
A contacts database of 500,000 to market offers to
Number 1 Facebook application in Kenya
Growing Small Medium Enterprise base of over 600 customers who use Whive services to send bulk messages
A bright future?In partnership with Nokia East Africa will
providing a Free SMS service that will reach millions in East Africa.
CrowdPesa.com: A mobile money mappings solution built on the Ushahidi platform that is being used to map the 25,000 Mpesa Agents in Kenya. This application will be used by Kenyans to locate mobile money services using their phones.
PesaPay.com: A mobile payments solutions that will allow for IN-APP purchases locally in Kenya.
Others think so too
1st Open Screen Fund winner 2010.
Best Software Maker Faire Africa 2011.
Vision2030 ICT Award for innovation in Youth, Gender & Vulnerable groups.
Winner Gaming, Entertainment, Utilities at Pivot25 Mobile Apps Competition.
3 Organizations providing access to information & knowledge
Urban Mapping
Web and digital design skills
Digital and social media platforms
Community involvement
Training & employment
Entrepreneurship
Self determination
Lessons for the developed world
Slum communities must become visible – even in developed countries – for the problems to be recognized and understood.
Digital technology means information that was once difficult to find is now easy to collect, collate and share.
Digital technology tools not only educate and inform they empower people to manage their own communities.
Information & knowledge
Empowerment Self
determination Prosperity
Asante,Usiku Mwema
