Outreach and training workshops on open-source mapping, open-source Geomatics, and data journalism in Cotonou

These workshops were organized in Cotonou (Benin) from May 1 to 21, 2016, by the Department of Economic and Digital Francophonie of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF-DFEN), in coordination with international experts and junior OpenStreetMap (OSM) contributors from Les Libres Géographes collective, the Projet Espace OSM Francophone (Projet EOF) collective, and members of the OSM Benin association and OSM communities in West Africa (from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Togo, France, and Côte d’Ivoire).

The workshops aimed to strengthen existing partnerships with Beninese and West African stakeholders and OSM project participants in these regions in order to expand the number of partners, the scope of work, and the local and regional OSM community base.

As with previous workshops held in Abidjan, Ouagadougou, and Bouaké, the concept behind these workshops was based on a dual and complementary profile of participants:

• beneficiaries from the host country who are new to the techniques being taught and active in the fields of geomatics, open source, or ICT within government, academia, civil society, the private sector, interest groups, or as individuals working in development aid and humanitarian action.
• facilitators/trainers from West Africa, former novice beneficiaries who participated in previous similar capacity-building programs and who now play an active role in the local implementation of the OSM project in their country. Involved in preparing and leading the mission and in conducting training activities for beneficiaries based on their skills in various training areas, these facilitators received specific technical and organizational support

Main workshops organized in Cotonou and Abomey-Calavi

Two technical capacity-building workshops – “OSM QGIS Webmapping and SDI” – held over 10 days at two separate locations

The first workshop was held at the Blolab fablab, attended by about fifteen professionals from the Technical Services Department of the Calavi City Hall and various NGOs, as well as a senior teaching assistant and master’s students from the Geography Department at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC). Six trainers from Benin and West Africa co-facilitated this workshop.

The second workshop was held at UAC’s Francophone Digital Campus, and the participants consisted of UAC undergraduate geography students and master’s students in sociology, ranging in number from 18 to 38 depending on whether they had completed 8 to 10 days or at least 1 day of training. Nine facilitators from Benin and West Africa co-facilitated this workshop.

The sessions on the topics “OSM, QGIS, Web Mapping, and GIS” delivered during these two workshops drew upon the training modules on free and open-source participatory digital mapping (OpenStreetMap) and free and open-source geomatics (QGIS, uMap, geOrchestra) established by Libres Géographes, drawing in particular on the Handbook of Free Geomatics and Open Data produced with the support of the OIF-DFEN since 2014.

Participation in World Press Freedom Day and a 4-day workshop on “OSM and Open Data for Data Journalism”

This event, organized on May 2, 2016, by the Benin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIB), the National Council of Audiovisual Media Employers (CNPA-Benin), and the OIF-DFEN, provided the first opportunity in Benin and West Africa to engage in an in-depth dialogue on the resources offered by the OpenStreetMap project, open-source software, and open data for journalism in general – and more specifically for data journalism.

This dialogue continued with a workshop titled “ OSM and Open Data for Data Journalism ”, which took place immediately after World Press Freedom Day at the Maison Des Médias (MDM) in Cotonou from May 3 to 7, 2016, for an audience of 20 participants from the fields of journalism, ICT, and entrepreneurship.

Organization of the “map4akassato” and “map4cotonou” mapathons, spread over two weeks

These two one-day workshops on mass OSM data creation were held on May 7 and 14, 2016, and continued the week following the start of the workshops. Not only did they advance the base map in the selected areas in terms of coverage and significant data volume, but they also helped bring the three groups of participants together around two major OSM community events organized as parallel OSM workshops led by the mission. Indeed, these various participants were able to come together during informal gatherings (drinks, meals) and extended mapping sessions late into the night on weekends or during the week, thereby functioning as a community, taking ownership of event management, and preparing for the post-training phase.

For all participants in the “map4akassato” and “map4cotonou” mapathons, this experience heightened their sense of belonging to a shared cultural community and of working, through the OSM project, both as a community and on a joint endeavor across African territories to achieve a global common good.

SotM Benin 2016, the first “State of the Map” conference in Benin

The State of the Map Benin conference was held over the course of one day on Saturday, May 14, 2016, at the Maison Des Médias (MDM) in Cotonou. This SotM was the third in Africa, organized in the same spirit as those held in Burkina Faso and Togo in 2015, as a voluntary and pro bono contribution alongside an OIF-DFEN capacity-building initiative in open-source digital mapping and geomatics. The conference was organized by senior and junior OSM experts, the organizing collective of the Francophone OpenStreetMap Space Project, and national OSM groups from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo – some of which are registered as associations.

This SotM, however, was the first in Africa to be organized in the “non-conference” format. Ultimately, its improvised program included:

• Presentations leading to group discussions
• Demonstrations of tools, services, and methods from the OSM project and the open-source community
• Discussion groups on aspects of governance and community life within the OSM project
• The week’s final “map4cotonou” mapathon

The SotM welcomed approximately 50 visitors, primarily participants from the mission’s three workshops, as well as all of the mission’s facilitators. It helped bring the former together around a major OSM community event and provided the latter with a training opportunity to gain experience in organizing this type of conference. In particular, preparing for and facilitating this SotM provided an opportunity for capacity building.

Other workshops organized alongside the main capacity-building program

An internal organizational capacity-building workshop for the facilitation team

During the three weeks of activities in Cotonou, the team of experts and facilitators mobilized by OIF-DFEN worked to strengthen their mastery of the organizational techniques necessary for the development of the OSM project in West Africa.

These working sessions, conducted on a voluntary basis outside of regular working hours, took various forms and covered a range of topics:

• Techniques for coordinating OSM activities in West Africa and within the framework of missions
• Adoption of the open-source coordination tools of the EOF Yunohost Project (online and offline via Olimex open hardware and Brique Internet)
• Discussions on governance aspects related to OSM coordination at the community, organizational, and economic levels; organizational and professional structuring; and project engineering techniques covering all aspects of a project cycle based on OSM and open data (design, implementation, technical reports, financial reports, and Results-Based Management)
• Review of best practices and supporting documents for the design and production of strategy documents, work plans, and budgets for OSM coordination over a 6-month period in a given territory

An OSM training workshop for members of OSM Guinea on a mission to Cotonou

A three-evening OSM training workshop (basics, data collection, database editing, and web mapping with uMap) for two Guinean bloggers from the ABLOGUI association who are eager to promote the OSM project in their country and strengthen an initial core group of OSM mappers trained by ABLOGUI following the organization of two map parties in Conakry.

The text has been translated from French by DeepL.com (free version).