An Ushahidi plugin that allows for feedback to be given on flooding and and other water related reports in Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania. This is specifically related to monitor drainage, water and sanitation problems.
In August 2011 exploratory mapping occured in Tandale, this involved community members. One of the outputs was an ushahidi instance http://tandale.ramanitanzania.org/ushahidi/. The citizens of Tandale have continued to interact with it, pointing its potential sustainability if replicated across Tanzania and Zanzibar.
The plugin would report using Ushahidi's normal channels (SMS, Web, etc.) but have a dashboard allowing for feedback of those reports, for the Tanzanian government. By feedback we mean that people will report, the government will become aware of the problem, fix it, then inform the report(ers) that it has been resolved.
From this it allows local government to increase transparency, with citizens understanding the role of government in providing services. The councils gain through recieving this information, allowing for an enhanced understanding of the water situation.
Another key facet is improving citizen satisfaction within services. Currently the services related to water and drainage aren't monitored. As is a disruptive technology, gauging support for the (improved) services is important, we can gather a baseline of citizen satisfaction now, using services like TxtEagle, the effect of any technology deployed could then be measured, gathering quantitative results.
David lives in Tandale, Dar Es Salaam. He has recently recovered from malaria, knowing that mosquitos breeding in stagnant water causes it he looks around his shack. Behind it there is an irrigation channel, but it is blocked because of solid waste. He reports this on his mobile phone by SMS. Which goes to Joy in the Dar Es Salaam city council.
Joy works for the waste management department of the Dar Es Salaam city council. She recieves a message from David on her computer dashboard, informing her of a water related problem. Because David has supplied a lot of information in the report she knows where the problem is and what it is. Using her dashboard she tells the waste collection team to fix the problem.
David recieves an SMS informing him that the problem has been recieved, and is told what will happen, with a timeline.
Samuel is a team leader working on fixing drains in Dar Es Salaam. He is told by his boss to fix a problem in Tandale and recieves location information to where the problem is. He finds the problem and in conjunction with his team fixes it. He reports back to his boss who updates his computer.
David receives an SMS informing him that the problem has been resolved. But he has the option of saying that the problem hasn't not been fixed, which goes back to Joy's dashboard, and the process starts again.
The technology which will be used to report will be ubiquitous mobile phone. Various technologies exist to interface with Ushahidi and recieve the information. Thought needs to be placed on the interface for the councils, this includes speed of pages, not relying too much on javascript (potentially IE5/6 is being used), basically an Occam's Razor solution is needed.
This will be part of an on-going project, taking water as its lodestar. It will then, hopefully, encompass numerous other public sevices like education, energy, transport etc.
Comments
Initial problem statement for
Initial problem statement for a problem to be (hopefully) partially resolved at the London WaterHackathon 2011.
Mark and team worked on this
Mark and team worked on this for the Water Hack in London (http://blog.ushahidi.com/index.php/2011/10/28/rhok-water-hackathon-%E2%8...)
If you are considering working on it for Rhok December 2011, please let me know.
Thanks!
Heather L