Research, methodology and publication design for the Know Your City 2.0 handbook on community-led data activism

Slum Dwellers International is a global network of community-based organisations driving bottom-up change for inclusive cities, connecting the urban poor across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

For over 15 years, SDI federations have mapped and profiled their own settlements, using community-owned data to negotiate with governments that had long planned without them. Through interviews with community mappers, federation leaders and technical partners in Kenya, Ghana and Sierra Leone, we translated this practice into the Know Your City 2.0 methodology, a five-phase guide to community-led data activism. We documented three in-depth case studies and designed the full handbook, with infographics and visual learning aids accessible across literacy levels, so the SDI network can adopt, adapt and pass the method on through peer-to-peer exchange.