HOT supports a community mapping project in the Lower Shire of Malawi, whose two districts, Chikwawa and Nsanje, are the most flood-prone areas of the country.

From late July to late September of 2014, HOT will carry out a project in Malawi whose main aim is to achieve a Community Mapping Exercise for the Lower Shire, the large valley in the South whose two districts, Chikwawa and Nsanje, are the most flood-prone areas of the country. This project is funded by the World Bank Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), for which Malawi is one of the 9 African priority countries.

The project will complement other initiatives that have been implemented previously by GFDRR with the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), the Surveys Department (the one in charge of maps and geodata) and other relevant government departments. These initiatives include an Integrated Flood Risk Management Plan (IFRMP) for the Shire Basin, an open data, Geonode based platform called Malawi Spatial Data Portal (MASDAP) and a specific needs assessment for Nsanje (Nsanje 2012 Floods Post Disaster Needs Assessment

The aims of this project include:</p>

•  A series of meetings and training sessions on open data and community mapping, engaging government Departements, university students (especially from the Polytechnic School in Blantyre), NGOs and civil society
• Apply the training by collecting geospatial data in the field in the two most flood prone districts of Malawi (Chikhwawa and Nsanje), edit and upload it in partnership with the OSM worldwide community
• Explain how to host the data on the Malawi Open Spatial Data Portal (MASDAP) and use it effectively, specifically by holding a training on the INASAFE tool to perform contingency planning with the OSM data, as already made elsewhere, especially in Indonesia
• Identify and support community mobilizers to ensure sustainability of the outcomes, and make the community autonomous, able to update and enhance the OSM data, use it when crisis arises, and link with the local disaster management authorities and the OSM worldwide community.

A team of three experienced HOT Community members will be deployed to address all the different aspects of the projects and interact with all the stakeholders.

The time frame is as follows:

• Week 1 (starting July 29): meetings with stakeholders in Lilongwe
• Week 2 (starting August 4): OSM training and MASDAP/OSM sessions in Lilongwe
• Week 3 (starting August 11): OSM training in Blantyre, Polytechnic School
• Weeks 4 and 5 (starting August 18): OSM field community mapping in Chikwawa district
• Weeks 6 and 7 (starting September 1): OSM field community mapping in Nsanje district
• Week 8 (starting September 15): InaSafe training in Lilongwe

 

Photos from the project (CC BY-SA)