The organization
Addressing the Unaddressed (ATU) is a nonprofit that provides unique addresses to people who live in dwellings of unplanned settlements such as slums, shanties, and semi-permanent campsites. Addressing the Unaddressed was created in response to the Universal Postal Union's "Addressing the world: an address for everyone" initiative. ATU has offices in Kolkata, India and Dublin, Ireland.
Over the years, ATU has developed expertise in addressing projects, working with communities to realize the importance of an address and collaborating with local authorities to activate addresses.
The challenge
Kolkata has over one million people living in crowded and underserved urban areas. ATU wanted to help solve the addressing problems for this population and also build an exemplar, using a digital addressing solution that was open source, free, and scalable.
Addressing in dense urban areas such as Kolkata can be challenging. Lanes are very narrow, dense roof cover makes GPS inaccurate, and satellite imagery is not very informative. The average dwelling size is extremely small, which means assigned addresses need to be highly accurate and unique.
How they did it
ATU successfully used Plus Codes, an open source solution provided by Google, delivering addresses at scale to hundreds of thousands of residents across Kolkata. The addressing work was done in three stages:
Community sensitization. ATU received relevant permissions from local government representatives to do the addressing work and engaged with local residents to explain the benefits of an address and the approach. This also allowed the addressing team to become familiar with the area.
Plus Code addressing. ATU workers walked the area to be addressed and used a smartphone addressing tool to map all the lanes in the Kolkata suburb, assigning Plus Code addresses to every dwelling on each lane. These addresses then received an address board, or physical sign, that was attached over doors confirming the addresses.
Activation. ATU next worked with local banks, post offices, health care workers, and others to activate the addresses and ensure they were being used. The organization also helped residents become familiar with using their addresses to open bank accounts, register to vote, shop online, and direct other services to their homes.
The impact
To date, ATU has assigned Plus Code addresses to over half a million residents in Kolkata. The organization worked to activate addresses in these areas through social impact surveys, mail worker training, and guidance on opening bank accounts.