By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
232News
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The Open Mapping Hub for West and North Africa of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) in partnership with the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS) is organizing a weeklong training at the Swiss Hotel in Freetown from today March 4th to March 8th, 2024 through the “Strengthening Gender Resilience Against Disaster” project in Sierra Leone.
Participants were drawn from different organizations with the aim of enhancing the disaster management capacity of women’s organizations through open and participatory mapping. It also provides microgrant opportunities through an application process and networks.
According to the Project National Coordinator, Mariatu Tamba, the capacity-building program aims to equip women’s groups effectively with the necessary skills to support disaster response and recovery using open-source mapping techniques.
She emphasized that utilizing these tools strive to strengthen gender resilience against disasters and ensure women play an active role in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. At the next phase of the project, two women’s groups will be provided with microgrants to replicate the training to over fifty other women working at the intersection of advocacy, gender-based issues, and disaster response.
According to her, the week-long capacity-building activity will cover various topics, including:
- Understanding disaster management
- Types of disasters
- Disaster Management Cycle
- Risks and hazard analysis
- Emergency Planning & Search & Rescue Techniques
- Evacuation Techniques & First Aid
- Communication, Awareness & Education
- Introduction to Remote Mapping
- Remote Mapping
- OpenStreetMap Database & ID Editor
- Mapping with Mobile Applications
The project requires two dedicated participants to undergo training, which will equip them to enhance the capacity of their entire team.
“Let’s work together to develop a stronger and more resilient community. The week will end with an event to commemorate International Women’s Day. Participating women’s organizations will be certificated,” she concluded.
