Hello Team! One of the first deliverables from last month's Board of Directors meeting in Washington was a draft "organizational strategy" for the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team for the coming twelve months.
http://goo.gl/Rfkrsc This document is intended to provide a kind of basic framework for understanding the work of our team over the next year, and capture the vision, mission, values, beneficiaries, and goals of the organization. We hope to use the strategy document both as a touchstone for ourselves, as well as a kind of "executive summary" of the organization for explaining our role and purposes to funders, partners, and the wider world. Consequently, it's of the utmost importance that the strategy document reflect *your* concept of what HOT is and what it's trying to do. We've tried to capture the essence of the organization in a two page draft, but we can't regard it as complete until we have your reflection and input. Please -- it's only two pages, and it'll take only a few minutes of your time to review and comment with questions or recommendations. Please review and comment here: http://goo.gl/Rfkrsc Please also feel free to discuss the broader topic of organization strategy right here on the mailing list! I'm also including the text in the body of this message so that you have no excuse not to read it. ;-) Stay HOT, everybody! SDE --- Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team Organizational Strategy September 2014 - August 2015 Background ----------------- The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) began as an idea almost when OpenStreetMap started. Having freely available geographic data has many benefits, one of the greatest is in response to a disaster. Originally an informal community in 2010 HOT incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Washington D.C. in the United States, then seeking public charity (501(c)(3)) status which was awarded February 13, 2013. The people that make up HOT consist of staff, contractors, volunteers and partners. Currently HOT is made up of 11 staff and 2 part-time regular contractors, as well as many project based consultants and thousands of volunteers. These people work together as a team to respond to disasters, develop and support software to enhance OSM, provide training in disaster preparedness with OSM, and otherwise support HOT’s overall mission. Over the past year HOT has had many successes, some of the major ones are: • the community has successfully responded disasters and crisis all over the world including Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the political crisis in the Central African Republic and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa • Major updates to software including the release of the Tasking Manager 2 has occurred and LearnOSM now is available in 9 languages. • The HOT program has provided training programs and technical support in 10 countries over the past year. HOT has learned much over the years and has continued to grow and gain capacity to better execute on its mission. The coming year will not be without challenges though. • As HOT successfully responds to a multitude of crisis the demand for volunteers to map increases. How to recruit and train new volunteers and then retain them? • For field data collection the tools and techniques aren’t perfect yet how to improve them? • HOT has been sustained almost entirely by project funding, the organization would benefit from more stable overall funding. • A diverse community in culture and language how can OSM be made more accessible and how can the HOT community be more inclusive? Vision --------- Communities living in vulnerable environments and areas are empowered to create and utilize geographic data to play an active role in their own economic development and resiliency. Mission ---------- The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) applies the principles of open source and open data sharing for humanitarian response and economic development. Values HOT’s core values are key to how we execute our mission. In order to assist the people and communities we work with in an open and respectful way our values guide us. • Local communities come first • Open data and open source • Collaboration • Open participation • People come before data • Projects are planned with sustainability in mind • Technical capacity building • Support solidarity between OSM communities Beneficiaries ------------------ HOT’s primary beneficiaries are those living in vulnerable places lacking detailed and current geographic data. HOT broadly defines “vulnerable places” as locales which are prone to natural disasters, or other crises, that tend to adversely affect the safety or security of those who reside there. HOT’s supporting constituents are our volunteers, staff and partners. These individuals and organizations are key to HOT accomplishing our mission. Goals -------- HOT has three areas of focus, which are community, program and organization. These items are interlinked and support the following broad goals. • Support local resilience • Disseminate technical skills • Respond effectively to crises • Help spread open data • Become a more effective organization Success in these goals will be measured according to the quantitative indicators enumerated in a separate document: http://goo.gl/NyOhX1 _______________________________________________ HOT mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/hot
