Transformation begins City-WiDE PROFILING AND MAPPING IN MONROVIA
PATH TO TRANSFORMATION
In July 2016, slum dwellers in Liberia began profiling, enumerating and mapping their settlements. In so doing, they set off on a path to transform Monrovia into an inclusive city for all.
NUMBERING STRUCTURES WEST POINT
Each house was given a unique number which becomes the address and identification number for each household. This number is then linked to the household enumeration data. Check out Brenderly in the video below to learn more about why she joined the federation.
COMMUNITY "MEMORY MAP" THEIR SETTLEMENT
SK Doe community members sketch out a map of their community to get a sense of the settlement boundaries and size and begin to forge a strategy for data collection. Check out Samuel in the video below as he explains their memory map.
PUTTING SETTLEMENTS ON THE MAP
The team was trained in the use of GPS devices to digitize the boundary map and the service points within the settlement. See the boundary map of West Point settlement below.
AS WE MAP WE MOBILIZE
Moving around the settlement, the federation meets fellow slum dwellers and explains who they are, why they are gathering information and how that information becomes power in the hands of organized communities. In the process the federation grows. See Samuel S. explaining the federation process to communities in SK Doe.
INFORMATION IS POWER
The point of the information gathering is to organize communities; to gather much needed data on slum settlements; to empower communities in their collective planning efforts; and ultimately to improve tenure security, services, and housing for the urban poor.
MOVING FORWARD
As part of the Liberia Country Program, the federation, supported by YMCA Liberia and Slum Dwellers International (SDI), will profile and map the entire Greater Monrovia. This will feed the development of upgrading plans, the City Development Strategy and the National Urban Policy and support enhanced dialogue between organized urban poor communities and city and national government.