Over the past few weeks Lucas Borst and Sander de Haas of SamSamWater worked on a project for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The goal of the project was to provide insight in the possibilities and potential of online data sources and tools for smart measuring, data collection, information sharing and visualization for refugee camps.

Mtendeli refugee camp in nortwest Tanzania was selected by UNHCR as a case study for this project.

Together with UNHCR, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Netherlands Red Cross and TCRS we collected a whole range of datasets, maps and information for the camp. Some are based on field measurements, others satellites and we are even using scanned maps made during colonial times.

Having access to these maps and data on WASH is incredibly valuable for UNHCR, partners and experts. And combining different types (‘layers’) of data can give additional insights, improved knowledge, higher quality and cost reduction.

See the presentation below for a full overview of our findings and 4 case studies on how to use this data to solve actual issues in the refugee camp.



We’ve also made an interactive online map where you can explore all maps and layers, or you can download the full dataset in Google Earth format here.