Fellowship Focus

There is a lot of open geospatial data (from large-scale Earth Observation data to community-level data such as those in OpenStreetMap) and open geospatial applications (such as QGIS) that can be used to address climate-related issues. The goal of the project is to help increase awareness about the importance of these open geospatial data and tools and build capacity among relevant stakeholders on how to use these resources effectively for climate action. The project will focus on two components:

1. Capacity building: This involves capacity building activities with local communities and relevant stakeholders on how to utilize open geospatial data and applications on the topic of climate change and disaster preparedness. This capacity building phase will utilize a two-step training methodology that combines a training phase and a mentoring phase. This approach allows participants to immediately turn what they learn in the training into a meaningful project through mentoring.
2. Awareness raising and creation of open knowledge resources: This involves collaborating with local communities and stakeholders to build an open resource that will include key definitions, tools, information on where to find open data related to climate, and examples of how to use the tools and data in climate-related projects. The projects by the participants of the capacity building activities will form part of this resource.

Overall, the project seeks to empower local communities and stakeholders with knowledge and skills that will allow them to utilize open geospatial data and tools to support climate-related activities. By building capacity and raising awareness about the importance of open geospatial data and tools, it is hoped that more people will be able to take meaningful actions to address climate issues and their associated impacts. Lastly, by building these resources in the open, we hope to encourage and inspire others to contribute as well. For more information, read Ben’s project brief.

Bio

Ben Hur (he/him) is an advocate of a free and open future. He is based in the Philippines and works at the intersections of the openness, data, technology, and geospatial fields. He has a wealth of experience as an advocate, trainer, and educator on open data, data literacy, and open geospatial. He supports and takes an active role in the open communities in the Philippines both as an individual and through his organizations: BNHR, an open data and open geospatial enterprise he established; and SmartCT, an openness and citizen-centric tech non-profit that he co-founded. With his set of skills and experience working with people in technical, advocacy, and policy sectors, Ben works to inspire others to use data and technology to advance and protect safe, fair, and free societies.

Additional Links

Facebook page: https://facebook.com/bnhr.xyz
Mastodon page: https://mastodon.social/@benhur07b
Open Geodata Curriculum: https://school-of-data.github.io/open-geodata-curriculum/en 
Awesome Data Philippines: https://bnhr.xyz/awesome-data-philippines/