Youth Led Digital Mapping of Social and Environmental Risks

UNICEF’s Voices of Youth Maps program puts young people in charge of digitally mapping their community for social and environmental risks; we support their efforts with the design and deployment of mobile tools and low-coast aerial mapping technology for youth mappers.

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SUMMARY

Increasing community resiliency requires locating the social and environmental threats and vulnerabilities. However, this survey process can be difficult due to the location, size, density, and informal nature of many neighborhoods. The maps created in this program contain georeferenced reports of social and environmental risks, collected entirely by trained youth mappers. Aggregated on digital maps, the reports allow decision makers to see where risks are clustered and other trends and patterns, such as prevalence of a type of risk. The youth mappers use the maps to communicate urgency and advocate for action. This program started in 2011 and has been deployed in Brazil, Haiti, Argentina, Kosovo, Madagascar, and beyond.