Movement Building

OSM Grants and Fellowships

The hub has embarked on a campaign to mobilize contributors in the region, through a test - learn - scale-up approach. Among the 24 countries, we opted to test a community-building approach in 10 countries. This approach is aimed at existing organizations promoting OSM, through a certified training course in the management of civil society organizations, followed by a grant of $10,000 each for 6 months. In addition, we have made available a research grant for 8 people, from 4 countries, to support the development of a community of researchers around OSM.

Mwalai Grants

The objective of the Mwalai (Drive & Improve OSM Data program) grant program is to strengthen data production and enhance data quality within the OpenStreetMap database. The grants are open to 14 countries. As part of the pilot program, three countries have been selected to form the first cohort: Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Sierra Leone. The activities are planned for a duration of 5 months. The activities began in May, starting with training sessions held in four different cities in Côte d’Ivoire and Benin. So far, around a hundred individuals have been trained in OSM, and data collection and mapping activities are currently underway.

The Mwalai grant is $10,000 per country. As of today, $30,000 of grant funding has already been disbursed. These grants are intended to cover the costs of renting training and mapathon venues, internet access, food and refreshments for participants during various activities, as well as transportation and accommodation expenses for trainers during activities outside the capital cities.

WNAH - Open Mapping & Tech Days(OMTD)

• Ivory Coast

Training on the usage of tools and technologies for contributing to OSM and reusing the data have been organized in Ivory Coast with over 30 participants from various sectors. Through a mapathon, the participants remotely mapped a city named OUANGOLO, located in the northern part of Côte d’Ivoire. They have mapped 8,379 buildings, 20 km of roads, and making a total of 361 changesets with 8,630 map edits.(more details here).The professors from Felix Houphouet-Boigny University who attended the training have decided to incorporate OSM into their geomatics curriculum, benefiting the students. Additionally, a participant from OMTD, residing in Korogho, a city in northern Côte d’Ivoire, initiated a program to train students from the University of Korogho. Twenty-five students underwent the training and launched a campaign to map water points in the city. This participant received the Mwalai grant to implement the program, in collaboration with OSMCI, thereby decentralizing OSM to other cities.

• Niger

In Niamey, WNAH organized technical training sessions for 35 individuals, including students, experts, and professionals, on collaborative mapping tools. Upon completion of the training, attendees were awarded certificates to attest to their proficiency in the learned tools and technologies. WNAH has Strengthening the capabilities of the OSM Niger community, Requesting partnership with WNAH to receive support in integrating OSM into the curriculum of a mining university in Niamey,Exploring collaboration opportunities with drone pilot in Niger to upload humanitarian drone imagery to OpenAerialMap. The monitoring of the impact is still ongoing.

• Senegal

In Dakar, the OMTD has benefited 35 participants, including 13 women, representing 11 organizations from the tech and geomatics ecosystem, such as MSI SN, UCPO, TOSTAN, Senegalese Red Cross, OSM Senegal, PROCASEF, Kamou Technology, UCAD-ISRA, ANIIDES, DPVE/MEDDTE, and IFAN Ch. A. Diop. The OMTD event provided an opportunity to popularize open geospatial technologies and enhance the technical skills of the participants. At the end of OMTD, the participants were invited to join the WhatsApp group of the OSM West African community.

Data Quality Network

Our goal is to create a community of open data pros who will help identify data quality gaps and provide technical support to data contributors within the WNAH region to ensure quality contribution to OSM and increase awareness on data quality.

So far, the hub has engaged with 19 members from different OSM communities, including Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali with the primary focus of identifying different data quality challenges. We are currently collaborating with the network members to formulate targeted sessions aimed at providing valuable support to overcome these issues.

Tech Help Desk

The help desk provides technical support and assistance for organizations, institutions, governments, stakeholders and partners in general using open source geospatial technologies, aiming to overcome barriers and promote their effective adoption for geomatics and digital mapping. It establishes a network of volunteer contributors forming a technical task force, offering support.

Strengthening Partnerships

Partners have been convinced on use of OSM tools, during the partnership day events. Examples of how we support partners, and our current (July 2023) partner priorities are:

• Winrock : on their wash project in other region of Niger, MOU signed, training will be conducted to theirs stakeholders, and data upload in OSM.

• Water Aid : Ongoing discussion on the concept note of Wash Project.

• GSPDD: Successful trainings for 30 NIS Staff in Mali, Senegal Guinea for government statisticians.

• USAID: Discussion ongoing.

• Marie Stopes Senegal: Successful partnership realized during public health project.

• Local stakeholders : where the pilots projects were conducted (Liberia, Togo, Senegal and Niger).