Introducing an easy way to volunteer online

About a year ago, I decided to look for opportunities where I can spend my spare time in a useful manner. During my search, I found the United Nation’s Online Volunteering website offering a plethora of projects one can easily participate in, online. I would strongly encourage everyone to check out these opportunities. This writing will be focused on the project I have chosen — Crowd2Map Tanzania. 

The primary aim of this project is to map the rural areas of Tanzania in order to aid locally-based volunteers in preventing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Unfortunately, FGM is still a traditional practice in several countries. According to WHO, FGM affects approximately 3 million women per year worldwide. Contrary to the traditional beliefs, the procedure has absolutely no health benefits and is extremely dangerous to women. It introduces long-term complications, both physically and emotionally. 

The use of volunteer maps is twofold: first, it helps FGM victims escape to a “safe house”; and second, it aids local volunteer teams on the ground reach remote and unknown villages. The mapping task itself is easy and straightforward, done via OpenStreetMap. The area targeted for mapping is split into smaller work units. Using satellite images, volunteers have to tag roads and buildings on the maps, and these are later validated by more experienced mappers. The good news is, that even with a few hours of contribution per week, you are already providing a great impact on the state of these maps.

So, if you feel like doing something worthwhile during your free time, use the links in this article, head out and start mapping!