Tommy G D Charles presented at the State of the Map 2017 in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan on the necessary inclusion of small and young OpenStreetMap communities like his in Sierra Leone.
During the talk, he highlighted the constraints and limitations of these communities and offered suggestions on how to improve them. His suggestions include:
Giving frequent training workshops to students and OSM participants to ensure a sustainable availability of local OSM experts
The inclusion of women and other poorly represented groups in society within the mapping communities to ensure proper representation
The incorporation of OSM into the framework of well established organizations to offer technical assistance to small and new mapping communities
The establishment of meeting points for mappers, in the form of centers and conferences, on a regional and sub-regional basis
At the end of the presentation, he petitioned fellow Youth Mappers to take part in humanitarian tasks in order to help humanity.
Tommy. G. D. Charles is a qualifying Geography student of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He is a founding member and President of The Students Geographical Association- Youth Mappers Chapter and a member of OpenStreetMap Sierra Leone.