Waterpoint Mapping in Liberia: Piloting a new mobile technology in a fragile state

Abstract

This short film documents how an innovative new mobile technology was used to map all rural waterpoints of Liberia in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Still suffering from the after-effects of a destructive civil-war that ended in 2003, the Government of Liberia urgently required a baseline atlas of rural water points to identify needs and thus be able to systematically invest in the water sector. To meet this need, the project shown in this film used the new mobile-phone based FLOW application, which integrates all steps required to carry out a survey and create a map. Within just one month, all water points across remote rural Liberia were surveyed and mapped. The resulting digital atlas is now a crucial input to the national planning process in Liberia. Moreover, the project also demonstrated the value of the new FLOW tool, which could be used for efficient mapping and surveying in many other contexts.