Every day, women and girls around the world travel great distances to access critical resources like family planning and maternity services, or help for gender-based violence victims. Maps can help women identify and reach these resources faster, but in many places these services are missing from the map altogether.
Tomorrow, in honor of International Women’s Day, members of our team around the world will participate in mapping facilities that are critical to the health and wellbeing of women and girls.
Our friends on the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) are leading these efforts, urging more people to get involved so that services for women and girls are better mapped. This data that is added to OpenStreetMap will help NGOs reach the remote areas where women and girls are fleeing Female Genital Mutilation or contribute to malaria eradication efforts.
We invite everyone, mapping community veterans and newcomers, to join us by tracing new roads and buildings or validating an area that has already been mapped.
Choose a task to work on:
- Support girls and communities affected by Female Genital Mutilation by mapping for the Tanzania Development Trust. HOT tasks here and here.
- Malaria disproportionately affects women and girls, since women are both more likely to contract malaria, and experience a greater economic burden once infected (UNDP). Support mapping the Malaria Elimination projects.
If you are new to OpenStreetMap, follow these steps to start mapping:
Read more about HOT’s work, and use #BeBoldForChange to let us know what you’re mapping to support women and girls on Twitter.