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I am a French Geographer and a GIS/Cartography expert with a background rooted in
Literature
/ Social Sciences/ Social activism and
12
years of work in Overseas Academic Research and
Humanitarian/
Development
+
I am a French Geographer and a GIS/Cartography expert with a background rooted in
Litterature
/ Social Sciences/ Social activism and
14
years of work in Overseas Academic Research
, Humanitarian
and Development
actions.
−
−
I had been living over 7 years in Senegal and developed in this time an interest for Humanitarian and Development understood as fields of practices (theories and actions) where space and location tied to agile, innovative approaches to individual and community empowerment - what can described as geography in action - have a role to play which potential has not been fulfilled yet.
−
−
From my years as a practician in the Humanitarian and Development worlds, I strongly believe that OpenStreetMap, the wider opendata and opensource movements as well as tech groups are building a new emerging paradigm in territorial dynamics. This also applies to the humanitarian and development contexts through this multi-scale active citizenship in the realm of mapping. This is to foster the maturation of this paradigm that I invented the concept of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) with Mikel Maron from late 2007 to early 2009. This is why I engaged in the OSM response to the Haiti 12-January 2010 earthquake, both remotely and on-the-ground, by leading HOT field work from March 2010 onwards. And this is why I co-founded HOT with Mikel, Kate Chapman, Robert Soden and Dane Springmeyer in August 2010 so that we can widen and deepen our action in overseas humanitarian and development work.
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Asides of HOT, I am curious and interested about the OSM project worldwide, how it ties to Geography, opendata and open source movements, as well as the wealth of re-uses it is enabling for all and by all.
== Geographer in Overseas Development Studies with IRD/CNRS ==
== Geographer in Overseas Development Studies with IRD/CNRS ==
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I had been
working
from 2001 to 2003 in
overseas
geographical
studies
with a focus in Medical Geography in Senegal and Burkina Faso with the Institut de Recherche pour le Developement (IRD) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
+
I had been
living over 7 years in Senegal and worked
from 2001 to 2003 in
Overseas
Geographical
Studies
with a focus in Medical Geography in Senegal and Burkina Faso with the Institut de Recherche pour le Developement (IRD) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
. I developed in this time an interest for Humanitarian and Development understood as fields of practices (theories and actions) where space and location tied to agile, innovative approaches to individual and community empowerment - geography in action - have a role to play which potential has not been fulfilled yet
.
== United Nations with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) ==
== United Nations with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) ==
−
I had been working 6 years within the United Nations in charge of projects around Crisis Preparedness and Response within the WFP (2003-2006), the largest humanitarian agency and at inter-agency level (in the UN system) within the UNJLC (2006-2008).
+
I had been working 6 years within the United Nations in charge of projects around Crisis Preparedness and Response within the
World Food Programm-
WFP (2003-2006), the largest humanitarian agency and at inter-agency level (in the UN system) within the
UN Joint Logistics Centre-
UNJLC (2006-2008).
As a GIS Officer and the coordinator of the UN Spatial Data Infrastructure for Tranport (UNSDIT) initiative, I had been serving UNJLC, and through it the whole humanitarian community (United Nations Agencies, NGOs, Local/Central Governments, Individuals), by providing with public domain logistics data and decision-making products any humanitarian actor engaged in large scale emergencies.
As a GIS Officer and the coordinator of the UN Spatial Data Infrastructure for Tranport (UNSDIT) initiative, I had been serving UNJLC, and through it the whole humanitarian community (United Nations Agencies, NGOs, Local/Central Governments, Individuals), by providing with public domain logistics data and decision-making products any humanitarian actor engaged in large scale emergencies.
−
I met with Schuyler Erle, Mikel Maron and Andrew Turner in Nov 2007, and I have been since then actively advocating for OpenStreetMap in the UN System (UN Geographical Working Group - UNGIWG, crisis response fora). I have been preaching for OSM to form a core component of any GIS solution set up in Humanitarian and Development contexts. More specfically, until the end of my time with UNJLC (Oct 2008), I had been building the acceptability of OSM within the GIS Humanitarian System. I facilitated the import into the OSM database of the geodata for South Sudan colleccted by UNJLC. Finally, I acted so that OSM can step in crisis responses at the event of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (May 2008) and Cyclones Gustav/Hannah in Haiti (Sept/Oct 2008).
+
I met with Schuyler Erle, Mikel Maron and Andrew Turner in Nov 2007, and I have been since then actively advocating for OpenStreetMap in the UN System (UN Geographical Working Group - UNGIWG, crisis response fora). I have been preaching for OSM to form a core component of any GIS solution set up in Humanitarian and Development contexts. More specfically, until the end of my time with UNJLC (Oct 2008), I had been building the acceptability of OSM within the GIS Humanitarian System. I facilitated the import into the OSM database of the geodata for South Sudan colleccted by UNJLC. Finally, I acted so that OSM can step in crisis responses at the event of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (May 2008) and Cyclones Gustav/Hannah in Haiti (Sept/Oct 2008).
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−
== Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team ==
−
I learned from this year of activism between 2007 and 2008 for OSM, opendata and opensource within the United Nations system; the resistances to OSM were typical of those of an organization confronted to an innovation at its early stage. I acquired the conviction that the switch to OSM by the Humanitarian would have to be facilitated by individuals, groups, organizations operating outside of the classic GIS humanitarisn system.
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When
the
earthquake
hit
Haiti, I was ready and free to guide the remote OSM response by mobilizing my network of humanitarian friends and former colleagues. I continued this effort from March 2010 onwards organizing and leading the first
HOT
missions into the Island to support the growth of the OSM
project
in this country and making it relevant to humanitarian and development actors. Like all actors engaged on-the-ground in this response, I have been impressed by the energy and determination shown by the Haitian people in coping with the aftermath of the quake. Working there, I had the intimate confirmation of how relevant and fundamentally enabling the OSM project was to the recovery of the country and the building of resilience for the Haitians. These are the reasons why I decided to continue my engagement in Haiti with HOT to create with all Haitians long term autonomous OSM capacities (a richer OSM map and a community of active mappers)in the island actionable in future disaster response through .
+
==
The
Humanitarian
OpenStreetMap
Team
(
HOT
)
project
==
+
From my years as a practitioner in Overseas Academic Research, Humanitarian and Development worlds, I strongly believe that the OpenStreetMap project, the wider open data and open source movements are building a new emerging paradigm in territorial dynamics which allows for renewed global and local citizen actions and empowerments relevant for Humanitarian contexts and leading eventually to human Development.
−
I
conducted
this
collegially
with
other
members
of HOT
and
mappers
living
in
Haiti
by
seeking
funding,
planning,
carrying
out
remote
and on the
ground
work
.
Mapping
and
capacity
building
happened
through
a
mix
of
paid
projects
supported
by
large
humanitarian
organizations
(camp
mapping
,
baseline
and
disaster
risk
reduction
mapping
with
the
International
Organization
of
Migrations
-
IOM)
and
development
actors
(training
and
coaching
Youth
in
mapping
their
commune
the
OSM
way
for
USAID
-
Office
for
the
Transition
of
Innovations)
and
various
many
voluntary
initiatives.
I
have
been
and
am
still
active
on
this
front
.
+
To
foster the maturation of
this
paradigm,
I
invented
the concept
of
the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (
HOT
)
Project
with
Mikel Maron from late 2007 to early 2009. I engaged
in
the
OSM
response
to
the
Haiti
12-January
2010 earthquake, both remotely
and on
-the-ground, by leading
the
first field
work
of
the
HOT
Project
from
March
2010
onwards.
I
co-founded
the
US-incorporated
NGO
HOT
Us
Inc
with
Mikel Maron
,
Kate Chapman, Robert Soden
and
Dane
Springmeyer
in
August
2010
to
widen
and
deepen
the
HOT
Project
in
Haiti
and
in Humanitarian
and
Development
work
overseas.
I
served
as
a
Board
Officer and Programs Director
for
HOT US Inc from
2010
-
2014
and
focused my engagement in developing
the
capacities
of
this
Organization,
its
community
and
its
partners
to
support
and
build
local
autonomous
OSM
communities
in Haiti and Western/Central Africa
.
−
While
supporting
Haiti,
I
have been working to build core capacities within the Team through networking, capacity buildings
(
OSM/HOT lectures in French Universities and humanitarian mapping party
)
. This is to ensure our readiness to respond to crisis and our ability to take part into crisis preparedness work. All this has been happening within a coordinated approach involving both classic humanitarian/ development actors and the network of crisis mappersT.
+
==
The
Espace
OSM
Francophone
(
EOF
)
project
==
+
To better address the specifics of community building in French speaking countries of the Caribbean and Africa, I ideated and started in 2012 the Espace OSM Francophone (EOF) Project with the support of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). The EOF Project represents both a collective as well as an efficient and agile mechanism to support continued local OSM animation. This consists of a mix of volunteerism and a series of small well targeted support projects tailored to the poverty context of those territories. Typically EOF activities spans in-country and remote mapping (humanitarian activations included), training, building of technical and organizational support materials. These are happening within an overall capacity building scheme and a continued mentorship which provides support to the most active individuals and groups. EOF works and operates through local partnerships with Academics (Research), Free Software Associations, Local Government or humanitarian actors. They form the basis of the OSM ecosystem and provides workplaces and resources for collectives of local OSM animators to grow local OSM communities.
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In
order
for
HOT
to
play
a
stronger
role
in
crisis preparedness
and
to
expand
from
Haiti
and
Indonesia
,
I
had
been
active
designing
the OSM Project Senegal
and
the
EUROSHA
project.
Those
two
projects aim at supporting
the
growth
of
OSM
in
Senegal,
Chad,
Kenya,
Burundi
and
Central African
Republic
.
+
Asides
of
the
HOT
and
the
EOF
projects,
I
am
curious
and
interested
about
the
OSM
project
worldwide
,
how
it
ties
to
Geography,
opendata
and
open
source
movements,
as
well
as
the
wealth
of
re-uses
it
is
enabling
for
all
and
by
all
.