Mapping the way

Village maps like these can provide a useful reference for deciding where a well and latrines should be placed.

Credit: WaterAid / Steve Bainbridge

In developed countries, most of us tend to think of maps as something we buy from newsagents, book shops or petrol stations.

It can be very different, though, in many communities where WaterAid-funded projects are carried out. Drawing maps aids people to express visually what they know and feel is important, about where they live, the facilities they have access to, and their health. Vicky Blagbrough explains how mapping is useful in WaterAid projects.

Mapping is usually carried out early in a project cycle, to help identify planning priorities. But it can also be a useful evaluation tool for pinpointing changes which have happened before and after project activities.

Body mapping starts with a group of people being asked to draw the outline of a human body on the ground or on a large piece of paper. This can be made easier by using a 'live' body to trace around!

The group then goes on to say which diseases they believe affect which parts of the body and the facilitator - or a volunteer from the group - writes these down on the drawing.

In this way a map of the body is gradually built up, with the group adding information onto it about the diseases that are common in their community which are transmitted from person to person.

Women and men may feel uncomfortable talking about sexually transmitted diseases and other 'intimate' infections together.

So, where it's possible, groups of women and men separately (as well as a mixed group) will draw their own maps before coming together for a general discussion about the maps.

The body map performs several functions:

• It provides a broad idea of people's knowledge about communicable diseases, which ones are considered important, what the local names for them are and their prevalence in the community. This information helps shape the subsequent hygiene promotion programme.

• It is a fun way to encourage people to talk about their health, and how changes in water and sanitation facilities and hygiene practices can make a difference.

• It's something everyone can take an active part in, whether it's drawing, writing or contributing ideas.

Villagers in Uganda map out their village using leaves, sticks and chalk to illustrate the important features.

Credit: WaterAid / Jim Holmes

Community mapping tends to focus more on tangible things like roads, houses, clinics, schools and places of worship that are within a community.

The idea is to build a map of what the area looks like. Like the body mapping exercise, it can be helpful to have both women only and men only groups, as well as a mixed gender group.

Women often highlight different features of significance (like water sources and clinics) while men will be more concerned with the correct location of roads and fields. In conducting a community to a mapping exercise the facilitator(s) ask the group to include on their map:

• Important physical features and boundaries
• Roads, paths
• Housing
• Other buildings such as schools, churches, health facilities, businesses
• Farms, fields, forests
• Water sources
• Sanitation facilities
• Waste disposal sites

The facilitator then tries to let the group work without any further suggestions and draw the map on their own. It isn't necessary to rely on paper and marker pens to draw a community map.

Stones, sticks, seeds and leaves are easily available in most rural villages, although may be more difficult to come by in urban areas. Children will enjoy a treasure hunt for suitable materials, especially if they are given the opportunity to make their own map.

It is important that the group (or groups) have a record of their map for future reference, so it can be very helpful if the facilitator has a camera to photograph any maps which have been made from degradable materials.

The map will be a useful reference for participatory planning of water, sanitation and hygiene activities. These maps can be referred to again when the community is discussing different ways to overcome problems, deciding upon priorities within the community, making an action plan to introduce changes into the community or simply monitoring progress of their activities.

Mapping exercises like those described here are commonly applied in WaterAid programmes and, while the detail of their implementation varies from project to project, they remain important components in the 'toolbox' of development planning, community mobilisation and empowerment.

Vicky Blagbrough is WaterAid's Programme Learning Facilitator.