1. Mapping Community Structures, Networks, and Organizations
Module 5
Version 2

2. Learning objectives
By the end of this module, learners will be able to:
Define the term “community” in the context of “community-directed interventions (CDIs)”
Describe the purpose of community mapping in building support and solving problems
Explain the value of involving community members in mapping their own community
List the steps and activities needed to map the organizations and resources in a community
Facilitate a community census
Use and update the village register of pregnant women

3. Community in the context of CDI
In CDI, we create a strong community-clinic linkage
We start our definition of community by identifying all the settlements, villages, etc., that are served by a primary health care facility (catchment area)
To make CDI effective, we work with each of the smallest functional units of a community (such as a kindred, clan, neighborhood, hamlet)

4. Mapping Mapping is: All programs need to have a sense of where:
A very important component of almost all practical situation assessments
A joint activity with the community that can help everyone involved learn more
All programs need to have a sense of where:
People live (especially pregnant women who may be eligible for community-directed intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy)
Problem areas are
Community resources are located
Others are doing their activities
Source: WikiHow How to draw a map of an imaginary place. WikiHow website. Draw-a-Map-of-an-Imaginary-Place. Accessed September 25.

5. Mapping is not just about locations
When community members are involved in mapping, they learn more about the problems and resources in their community
They can visualize service quality issues like access and equity
What can you tell about the community from this map?
Source: Bill Brieger, Jhpiego

6. Map health and development resources
Ask people:
To name and describe the location of key health and development resources that the community values, such as:
Healers
Opinion leaders
Medicine shops
Local associations, etc.
About major subdivisions (e.g., wards, communities, kindreds/clans, and settlements)

7. Components of mapping
During the CDI orientation and facilitation meeting, the CDI focal person should:
Learn about the community’s past development efforts and why these did or did not succeed:
Past efforts provide lessons on how to undertake future efforts more successfully
During the community-wide meeting, community representatives should:
Take notes during the meeting
Ask the group to list key persons and organizations in the community that can help promote the program
Identify any potential roadblocks or people who might oppose the program

8. Resource and social mapping
Locating physical structures:
Health facilities and providers
Schools, religious institutions
Boundaries
Understanding social relationships:
Existing organizations, associations, societies, and levels of activity
Wards (subdistricts), kinship groups
Utilization patterns and barriers
Communities are built from their social networks
Source: WikiHow How to draw a map of an imaginary place. WikiHow website. Draw-a-Map-of-an-Imaginary-Place. Accessed September 25.

9. Why do we need social mapping?
In mapping, we are interested in our target population, for example:
Pregnant women
People pregnant women turn to for advice and assistance
Key members of social networks to which pregnant women belong
Mapping helps link people in need with the services and resources they need

10. Social mapping helps make sense
Mapping provides useful tools for making sense of social networks and behaviors related to using services during pregnancy
In this case, we are interested in:
The size of the population group we are targeting (for community- directed intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, it’s pregnant women)
Their utilization behaviors
The places and persons they go to for help
What attracts them to these people and places

11. Map resources for women
Specifically ask about resources—people and organizations—that pregnant women go to for advice and help, for example:
Where do they get advice?
Are there women who regularly deliver babies, such as health care workers or traditional birth attendants?
Women’s groups in Nigeria.
Photos by Karen Kasmauski.

12. Map resources for women, cont.
Where do they get medicines?
From whom do they get financial, emotional, and other support?
Identify women’s associations and support groups

13. Chart the mapping results for malaria in pregnancy
Community resource
Specific examples
Names of women leaders
Names of community subsections (e.g., kindreds/clans, settlements)
Names and locations of health resources—public, private, indigenous
Names of key women’s social groups
Other special resources for pregnant women

14. If there is time, actual maps can be drawn and kept with the community
A subcommittee led by the CDI focal person can conduct the mapping exercise
Subcommittee members can:
Take a walk around the community
Note the locations of community resources and pregnant women
Translate the notes to:
Community map of resources
Register of pregnant women

15. Use the community mapping information
Encourage community members to use the information generated to help plan program development, for example:
Develop criteria for the best types of people to serve as community health workers—specifically, for malaria in pregnancy programming
Identify subcommunities (e.g., kindreds/clans, settlements, neighborhoods) from which community health workers could be selected

16. Mapping varies by type of community
Many factors influence a community’s structure, organization, and networks, such as:
The status and concentration of the services in the area
Whether it is urban or rural
The way people utilize the services that are available

17. Rural and urban communities
Some rural characteristics:
Greater community cohesion and identity
Smaller and more dispersed units
Seasonal habitations (e.g., farm hamlets)
Generally poorer
Some urban characteristics:
Weaker community identity and cohesion
More compact, but people travel far for work and social needs
Financial gain often supersedes other social needs
Greater divide between poverty and wealth
Can you think of other examples?

18. Discussion—A look at other issues
Let’s think of another health issue, for example:
Community management of child illness
Food security
Home-based care for people with HIV
What are the community resources we would need to find and map for these issues?

19. Chart the results for another health issue
Community resource
Specific examples
Names of leaders
Names of community subsections (e.g., kindreds/clans, settlements)
Names and locations of health resources—public, private, indigenous
Names of key social groups
Other special resources

20. Summary and conclusions
Community members’ involvement in mapping can help them learn more about problems and resources in their community
Mapping lets community members more easily visualize service issues like access and equity
Community participation in mapping makes community landmarks and identity more visible
Mapping helps link people in need with the services and resources they need

21. Thank you!
Any questions or comments?