Participatory mapping for community empowerment

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to show how participatory mapping practices can contribute to local water resource management for community empowerment. The river bank communities such as Chapra encounter exclusion because of geographic aspects of local water development projects. To understand this exclusion, this paper focuses on the research question; why did the Ganges-Kobodak and the Gorai River Restoration Projects cover some parts of Chapra and ignore others? This question is addressed here by using participatory mapping based on qualitative and quantitative data analyses in coordination with cartographic knowledge. For these data, I use my Ph.D. fieldwork experiences in 2011–2012 on the Gorai River bank communities at Chapra in Bangladesh. My data analyses found that the projects’ boundary selection follows the top-down approach that includes some specific geographic areas and excludes others based on specific interests. To understand the effects of this approach on Chapra communities and to promote community participation, this paper is divided into three major sections: participatory mapping in the context of my fieldwork site, bottom-up mapping approach as foundation for community inclusion, and participatory mapping for community empowerment: local development and resource conservation. These sections will be helpful for responding the above research question and for developing better understanding about community empowerment by participatory mapping approach.