Mapping in a conflict Zone

In a war-torn and post conflict environment like South Sudan, the approach for mapping can be way different, basing on the fact that South Sudan’s war was based on a tribal line, it is again more difficult to perform a more inclusive program like mapping, but as for us at OSM South Sudan looked at this as an opportunity more than a challenge, so we began more basic training with basic tools like the ID editor and concept mapping.

Concept mapping is the first phase of how we make mapping a relevant thing for our communities, we share very local and yet relevant examples to make our community members understand the value around mapping, so we use examples like; what would you do before you build a house? as the team suggests their ideas, you realize that they push the idea of planning, then we use that knowledge to show them how maps could also be used for planning for the growth of communities, After which we allow different ethnic tribes to map their different locations, as they map they realize that there is a lot they actually didn’t know or appreciate about the different communities which later changes their attitude and thoughts on the other ethnic tribe and by this we are looking at building a completely aware team of the different cultures and hence a peaceful co-existence