Dar Ramani Huria is a Swahili phrase that means “The Open Map of Dar es Salaam” and getting more than 100 people from different Government and Non Government Institutions was the perfect opportunity to talk about Community Mapping and how it can be used for Flood Resilience.
26th March, 2015 was the Kick Off Workshop for a string of Mapping activities that will continue throughout the year. The day kicked off at 9.30 with a Video showing the effects of flooding on Dar es Salaam one of the fastest growing cities in Africa with a population of over 4 million people. It was an eye opener to the reality that with development comes numerous challenges which have to be solved by all stake holders.
Dr. Hassan Mushinda, the General Director COSTECH gave the openning remarks followed by a series of discussion panels on topics; Innovating Urban Flooding, Mapping for Flood Resilience, and Engaging Communities.
In the afternoon the participants were given a demonstration of the state of the art drones that were used to capture high quality imagery to be used in the mapping process. This was followed by a practical session in which participants got a taste of Community Mapping, editing the Open Street Map using the Id Editor.
Demonstrating drones CREDIT: Ramani Huria
By 1630 hrs EAT its was time to go home but with a lot to think of on the minds of the participants, especially the role of Community Mapping for Flood Resilience.