Community youth mapping is a youth-centered participatory development strategy that engages young people and adults in canvassing their communities to document community-based resources, needs, and opportunities. This approach provides a comprehensive assessment of what a community has to offer, as seen through the eyes of young people. The resulting information describes the youth’s living conditions and economic situations, as well as their own suggestions for improving their social status.
Youth mapping has been used domestically and internationally to address various issues, including education reform, livelihood development, anti-trafficking, community strengthening, and peace and security. The findings from youth mapping can inform program design and implementation, ensuring that activities are responsive to youth needs and the on-the-ground reality. This approach represents a tested and replicable way to include youth in the design phase of a project, rather than later, and for a longer time frame.
The concept of youth mapping was created in 1991 by the New York City Department of Youth Services as a way to provide information needed for a citywide information sharing phone line called a YouthLine. Young people from across New York City canvassed their own neighborhoods, gathering over 10,000 resources that were entered into a database by young people themselves. The information was then mapped using Geographic Information System (GIS) software. Since 1995, Community Youth Mapping has been promoted and utilized by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) as part of civil society, education, health, and community-building initiatives in over 150 communities across the U.S. and several countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Internationally, youth mapping is currently implemented as a component of several projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), including the Education Reform Program in Egypt, the IDEJEN Out-of-School Livelihood Initiative in Haiti, and the Akazi Kanoze Youth Livelihoods Program in Rwanda. Overall, youth mapping is a strategy that incorporates local knowledge in the planning and management of development projects, making it highly customizable and involving young people in mapping their neighborhoods, documenting existing resources, and exploring the issues for young people in their communities.
Youth mappers are trained to use selected survey tools to explore their neighborhoods and gather information on the resources and supports available for young people. In most settings, the youth mappers not only use the information gathered to create databases of places local resources and youth-friendly activities but also to design youth-led community improvement projects. The goal of youth mapping is broader than data collection and mapping, linking mapping to action planning and community development projects aimed at improving social, cultural, and economic opportunities for youth.
Youth mapping stands out from other youth participation approaches by its action-oriented nature. Instead of asking youth what they think, youth themselves are sent out into their neighborhoods to ask other youth, community leaders, and business owners for their opinions and information about services. Through this process, youth become more engaged in their communities, gaining valuable livelihood skills and increased self-confidence from their training and work as youth mappers. The information collected becomes an invaluable resource for local, national, and international stakeholders, informing areas such as community planning, income generation initiatives, vocational training programs, and anti-trafficking awareness activities.