UN-HABITAT has developed a comprehensive framework to monitor water and sanitation coverage in 17 towns as part of the LVWATSAN Initiative. This process will help in tracking progress towards meeting the water and sanitation targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG 7 Goal 10) and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. It will also ensure that investments in the LVWATSAN Programme target the poorest communities in these towns.

The monitoring framework incorporates a baseline household survey (the Urban Inequities Survey), development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) for each secondary urban centre, application of Remote Sensing Technology in community profiling (through the acquisition of High Resolution Satellite data), and building the capacity of local authorities to maintain and update the information.

Urban Inequity Survey tools were developed by the Monitoring Systems Branch of UN-HABITAT and localized for the project area in collaboration with the National Statistical Bureau of each country. This is the first time high resolution satellite imagery has been used during the UIS baseline surveys by the National Statistical Bureaus in the project countries to create the spatial information profile of water, sanitation, solid waste and other infrastructure in each of the enumeration areas of the towns. A comprehensive Interviewers’ and supervisor’s manual has been developed for the Urban Inequity Survey data collection process.

Application of Geospatial technology in urban planning, utility networks and socio-economic mapping is not only useful for implementation of the LVWATSAN Programme, but also enhances the capacity of local and national authorities in planning and policy formulation.

UN-HABITAT applied geospatial technology, using very high resolution satellite imagery (0.6m resolution) for each project town. The satellite images were used to develop the GIS map layers along with the available maps or other GIS data sources for future geospatial applications such as urban info, revenue mapping, utility mapping, etc.

All the digital maps are synchronized on the same GIS platform as the first building block of the GIS databases. Dynamic geo-databases have also been developed, similar to the static statistical database, where all the information such as the structure or building’s name, location, size, plot number, purpose etc., has been recorded.

This was also the first time all the National Statistical Bureaus have applied Geo-spatial techniques in field data collection similar to their traditional census exercises. Convergence of digital technology in mapping opens a new dimension in traditional census processes, enabling the National Statistical Bureaus in the five East African countries to adopt a geospatial technological approach in their upcoming census exercises.