Mapping the marginalised: leaving no one behind in Kibera

By Erica Hagen & Elizabeth Stuart on 2015-08-11

Kibera, the most populous slum in Nairobi (and East Africa), once appeared as a blank space on most maps because it was considered an illegal settlement. Because of this perceived illegality, basic demographic statistics for the slum were not collected, meaning the government didn't provide basic services such as water, sewer, security, electricity and education. Thanks to Map Kibera, this is now starting to change.

Kibera Schools Demolished Along Railway Line

By Joshua Ogure on 2015-05-21

When around 15 police trucks came to Kibera a few weeks ago to witness and protect the demolition of schools along the railway line, there was shock and tension as Spurgeons school was targeted. But before the bulldozer could reach the permanent building, the community members turned up in large numbers to stop the demolition, saying that the school belonged to them. They claimed that the school has been helping their needy children and they could not sit back and watch it go down.

Open Schools Kenya Featured by Former Minister Bitange Ndemo in Daily Nation Column

By Erica Hagen on 2015-04-06

The following article is by Professor Bitange Ndemo, former Permanent Secretary of Kenya's Ministry of Information and Communication who was largely responsible for Kenya Open Data's emergence in 2011. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Nairobi Business School. We were honored to have him in attendance at the launch of Open Schools Kenya in Nairobi on February 24. Following the event, Prof. Ndemo published this column in the Daily Nation newspaper:

Launch of Open Schools Kenya

By Paige Kirby on 2015-03-11

Parents, teachers, governments, and social welfare organizations all want to provide children with the best education possible. In some places, these groups work together to allocate resources, build schools and improve the quality of education. But education officials, organizations and families need information to guide these efforts. Sometimes even the most basic school information -- like school location, fees, class size, or building types -- is unavailable, inaccessible, or out of date. This is especially true in many informal urban settlements, like the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, where demand for better education data is already well-established.

Nairobi Launch Event is a Success!

By Erica Hagen on 2015-03-01

On Feb. 24, 2015 Map Kibera Trust and partners launched the first open platform featuring citizen data about all the schools in Kibera slum. Featured attendees included, alongside many parents, educators and community leaders from Kibera: Bitenge Ndemo, former Permanent Secretary of Communication and Information in Kenya, who himself initiatied Kenya Open Data in 2011; Minister of Parliament for Kibra Kenneth Okoth; and Christopher Khaemba, County Secretary for Education.

Making Education Information Available to All in Kibera

By Erica Hagen on 2014-07-03

How can all the information about Kenyan schools, including data released by the Kenyan government, and citizen mapping, have a greater impact on education? We've been working for the past few months on a project to make information about schools much more available and useful in Kenya. It's a joint operation between GroundTruth Initiative, Map Kibera, Development Gateway, Feedback Labs, and the Gates Foundation among others.