The “KIJANI PEMBA – Strengthening Urban Eco-Resilience in Chake Chake and Mkoani” project is part of the Green and Smart Cities SASA program and aims to support the communities of the main urban areas of Pemba Island, Tanzania.
A community participatory mapping through an environmental and socio-economic analysis in the target areas will develop a vulnerability assessment involving four types of local actors (public institutions, local universities, civil society, and private entities) using a mixed quantitative/qualitative methodology.
The first action of the project was a survey of the investigation areas (Chake Chake and Mkoani) to introduce the research group to the context and set up preliminary activities.
The team met with various community representatives to discuss territorial issues, which were then explored to observe the criticalities (soil erosion, house collapses, accessibility problems, water points, etc.) and simultaneously collect data.
The next step will be to organize focus groups with the different categories of identified local actors to collect qualitative data on the vulnerabilities of the territory and internal perceptions of environmental and socio-economic risks.
The subsequent workshop will actively involve the local community in the process of identifying and mapping risk areas, with the main objective of promoting community awareness and empowerment, making it an integral part of the urban planning process promoted by the larger “Kijani Pemba” project.
