P.U.R.E. - a year into the project!

AAMatters is part of the EU-funded project P.U.R.E. (Pemba Urban Resilience and Ecosystem-Based Approaches), a three-year initiative focused on enhancing the safety, inclusivity, resilience, and sustainability of urban areas in northern Pemba through a multi-stakeholder approach. The AAMatters team is dedicated to building capacity among district authorities in integrated urban planning and management while also improving green and public spaces for women and children through a participatory approach. Over the past year, we have conducted several workshops and begun designing playgrounds in various locations. Below is a brief overview of our activities.

Community mapping and GIS-trainings

As the P.U.R.E. project focuses on the urban environment, AAMatters seeks to engage a diverse range of stakeholders, including local government professionals, authorities, shehas, school leaders, and members of civil society organizations (CSOs), in integrated urban development efforts. Capacity-building activities commenced in June with a training session on urban policies and guidelines for sustainable urban development, conducted in collaboration with Kijani Pemba. This was followed by community mapping sessions designed to familiarize community members with easily accessible digital tools (Kobo Toolbox) and to teach them how to document urban points in the field while identifying challenges and opportunities. In parallel, AAMatters held a series of workshops in June and November focused on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping, aiming to equip participants with foundational and practical skills. Approximately 25 participants from local government attended these workshops, covering key topics such as fundamentals of navigating the GIS interface, importing and layering geographic data for urban analysis, creating basic map outputs to visualize land use, understanding fundamental map keys based on purpose, utilizing open-source platforms like QGIS, processing and visualizing spatial data for urban planning scenarios, and exporting maps for stakeholder presentations.

Upgrade of urban play and recreation areas

As part of the project, AAMatters will also improve a number of playgrounds and sports fields. After a pre-selection of sites following discussions with key stakeholders, the AAMatters team conducted a series of participatory workshops with children. The workshops started with a general open call at primary schools to “draw your dream playground.” Following this, three sessions were held in both districts, with an average of 60 participants. These sessions progressed from familiarizing the children with creative skills using playdough and paint to exercising both gross and fine motor skills with clay and building blocks. The last session focused on designing and using maps to draw the site plan of the specific playgrounds and create symbols for design elements. All work was presented and discussed among each other.

In parallel, discussions with community members and other stakeholders were held on the sites, analyzing the current situation and suggesting wishes and needs for future use. In a closing session, initial conversations about operation and maintenance were conducted. At present, the AAMatters team is working on translating the concepts that resulted from the workshops into draft designs, after which tender procedures and construction will take place later in the year.