Akintola Mercy Onaopemipo, 2021-2022

NIGERIA

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Once a former vice president of YouthMappers FUTA and currently the chapter president of YouthMappers FUTA, he is an undergraduate student working towards a Bachelor of Technology in Remote sensing and GIS. Currently, he works with the HOT OSM Training Working Group, OSM Africa validators, and supports the OSM Africa monthly mapathon committee. Over the years, he has developed expertise in remote sensing, field data collection, data management, and geospatial analysis. He is an enthusiastic, energetic, passionate and ambitious person. Also a great team worker who loves to contribute and volunteer for several humanitarian initiatives. His dream is to help people who are willing and interested to learn, grow and improve in mapping activities over time, and help their communities. He hopes to give voices to people, particularly the underrepresented, through mapping which is a means of communicating problems and providing solutions. He supports and encourages active participation of young women in mapping. Reach him at @Mercixs20.

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Binyam Dele, 2021-2022

ETHIOPIA

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Binyam is a multi-talented geo-enthusiast software engineer responsible for developing and maintaining the exciting technological advances that happen every day at Miler LLC. He graduated from Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU) with a B.Sc, specializing in software engineering. While he was on campus, for his contribution to a gender-based violence prevention system that includes a mobile and web application, he received an award from the Ministry of Innovation. The need to answer "where?" on his software projects, his passion for open-source technologies and geospatial sciences led him to join the OpenStreetMap community in Ethiopia. He is also the founder of the AASTU YouthMappers chapter. Binyam loves to support people and strongly believes giving back to the community is the right thing to do. Likewise, he prefers to share what he knows and is happy to learn.

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Chomba Chishala, 2019-2021

ZAMBIA
 

Chomba Chishala is currently an undergraduate student at The University of Zambia. He is a former President for the YouthMappers chapter at the University of Zambia (UNZA), the former chairperson for astudent-led environmental network at the UNiversity of Zambia called Umodzi, and a 2018 YouthMappers Research fellow. Chomba Chishala is a purposeful and goal-driven, empathetic, creative, hardworking and honest person with great social and communication skills. His dream is to lead people; more especially the youth who have the power and energy to change the world. He desires to see more youth take a keen interest in what is happening in their community, voice out their opinions, and effect change through their mapping.  Follow Chomba @chombacc

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Read Chomba's blog posts Three Years of Being Part of YouthMappers; How YouthMappers are Contributing to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (co-written with Yusuf Suleiman); Three years of being a YouthMapper

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Christian Weah, 2021-2022

LIBERIA

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Christian is a self-motivated and energetic young man who is extremely passionate about leadership and positive influential change. He is a founding member and the immediate past President of the University of Liberia YouthMappers chapter, former President of the GEMCESA – Geology, Electrical, Mining and Civil Engineering Student Association at the College of Engineering, University of Liberia, and is an  EHELD (Excellence In Higher Education for Liberia’s Development) Scholar. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Liberia and a Certificate in Computer Applications from Comprehensive Computer Institute. Christian participated in the Open Cities Monrovia Mapping project, 4-County OSM Digitization, Social Registry Data Collection, Machine Learning, Monrovia Market Project and COVID-19 Rapid Response Project which helped to significantly improve his knowledge of several tools such ODK Collect, Kobo Toolbox, JOSM,  and ID Editor. He is passionate about contributing data to the Open Streat Map and wants to ensure YouthMappers visibility is increased across his region by establishing new chapters and providing support to existing chapters.  His unflinching commitment and his outstanding leadership abilities made him a recipient of the 2021 YouthMappers Alumni Award. Connect with Chrisitan @smart9xdiamond and on LinkedIn.

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Confidence Kpodo, 2021-2022

GHANA

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Confidence Kpodo recently graduated from the University of Cape Coast with a Bsc in Geography and Regional Planning. Being a geospatial enthusiast, she joined UCC YouthMappers in 2016 and before graduating, served as the chapter Vice-President in 2018 the Chapter President in 2019. That same year, she was selected as one of the HOT OSM Global YouthMappers Women Connect Challenge Winners to represent YouthMappers at the 2019 State of the Map Conference and HOT Summit in Heidelberg, Germany. As a member of UCC YouthMappers, she had the opportunity to support innovative projects where she was able to put her knowledge to use in mapping farmlands on the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture's FLA programme Africa RISING. She believes the exposure to certain skills that are not gained in the classroom, such as developing ones capacity in the field of GIS, impact personal growth positively. Confidence loves to have an adventure and try new tech, you can find her @Aku_Sedodo.

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Read Confidence's blog Mappers Under One Roof: An Experience Story From YouthMappers

(co-written with the winners of the YouthMappers Women Connect Challenge)

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Dennis Irorere, 2019-2020

NIGERIA

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Dennis is a final year student at the Federal University of Technology Akure, with a major in Meteorology. He has a passion for open data, open mapping, and technology with a specific focus on building sustainable architecture for interoperability and efficient data use toward building solutions to problems across sectors - Human, Social, and Environmental. He believes that when access to knowledge is democratized, we see meaningful social development because it takes a brilliant mind from a disadvantaged background to create transformational solutions that solve problems within their community. This is why he believes so much in the YouthMappers slogan “We don’t just make maps, we build mappers” and the opportunities YouthMappers is providing Youths across the world. Follow Dennis @Denironyx

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Read Dennis' blog post #ThrowbackThursday: SOTMUS 2019

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Erneste Ntakobangize, 2020-2021

RWANDA
 

Erneste Ntakobangize a Rwandan Geographer working as a GIS Specialist at Charis UAS ltd. He is the student-representative of the Rwanda YouthMappers chapter at the University of Rwanda and a representative of OSM Rwanda. Erneste is currently pursing a Masters at the University of Rwanda's faculty of Geographic Information Science for Environment and Sustainable Development. Erneste is 2019 YouthMappers Leadership Fellow, an OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) Member and an advanced mapper who won the YouthMappers Women Connect Challenge in collaboration with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). He is passionate about geospatial technology and an open source enthusiast.

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Read Erneste's blog Mappers Under One Roof: An Experience Story From YouthMappers

(co-written with the winners of the YouthMappers Women Connect Challenge); The process of making Rwanda YouthMappers more gender inclusive; Rwanda Radient Earth Foundation Geospatial Training; Choose To Grow Up With YouthMappers To Become a Mapper You Dreamed To Be

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Esaie Dufitimana, 2021-2022
RWANDA

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Esaie is a Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation enthusiast with skills in Land Informatics, Geoinformation Science, Remote Sensing, Land Administration, Spatial Data Science, Photogrammetry, Spatial databases and Computational Environmental and urban science. he holds a Master of Science degree in Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. Esaie is a 2019 YouthMappers Leadership Fellow. He is the co-founder of YouthMappers at INES-Ruhengeri chapter. Moreover, he teaches GIS, Remote Sensing and other courses related to the application of Geo-information technology to the undergraduate students at INES-Ruhengeri. Connect with Esaie on LinkedIn.

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Read Easie’s blog post Alumni Reflections: Esaie Dufitimana

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Guy Pacome Adingra, 2020-2021

IVORY COAST

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Guy Pacome Adingra is the founder of YouthMappers CURAT at University Felix Houphouët Boigny and a 2019 YouthMappers Leadership Fellows. His passion for geospatial sciences led him to join the Openstreetmap community in Côte d'Ivoire. His engagement for the community has made him the president of the organizing committee of the second edition of SOTM Africa, which was held in Grand-Bassam.  For his PhD thesis or his work as Data Manager, Guy never stopped supporting the opening of geospatial data and encouraging the emulation of a strong and dynamic community around this subject. It is therefore an honour for him to join the 2021 cohort of YouthMappers Regional Ambassador.  

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Read Guy's blog YouthMappers CURAT and OpenDCH

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Ibrahima Sory Diallo, 2021-2022
SENEGAL

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Ibrahima Sory Diallo is a student in his final year of a Master's degree in Geography: Specialist in Urban Spaces and Societies, at the Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis. This young geospatial technology enthusiast and collaborative cartographer is co-founder and president of the YouthMappers UGB chapter and a YouthMappers 2020 Research Fellow. A member of the OpenStreetMap Senegal community, Ibrahima's goal is to educate youth on leadership and mapping. He is convinced that youth have the energy to solve problems. Mapping is a very effective tool in almost any field to solve problems. It is a great pleasure for him to join the 2021-2022 cohort of YouthMappers Regional Ambassadors. He strongly believes in the YouthMappers code of ethics. Connect with Ibrahima @Ibrahim55688664!

 

Read Ibrahima’s post : Unforgettable outing of a YouthMapper - AGDIC 2019, Accra - Ghana

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Ingrid Kintu, 2019-2021

UGANDA
 

Ingrid Martha Kintu is a YouthMapper from Makerere University in Uganda and currently a YouthMappers Regional Ambassador aiming at recruiting students to establish new university-based YouthMappers chapters in Eastern Africa. Her professional background is in land management and geomatics with specific interest in remote sensing and leveraging earth observation to inform sustainable development. She was honored to receive a YouthMappers Research Fellowship in 2018, during which she assessed the resilience of refugees in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement using open data. She is currently a Research Assistant on a joint research project between Makerere University and the University of Dundee using geospatial technologies to quantify the extent of environmental degradation in two refugee settlements in Uganda. An industry thought leader and technological evangelist, Ingrid intends to create awareness about the power of open geospatial technology and the myriad of obstacles it can overcome especially in low and middle-income countries. Follow Ingrid @IngridKintu

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Read Ingrid's blog post Silent Disasters; Community Flood Mapping Activity in Bwaise and Kalerwe, Uganda

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Jariatou Jallow, 2020-2021

GAMBIA

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My name is Jariatou Jallow. I am a Third Year Computer Science student in the University of The Gambia. Growing up as a child, I have been opportune to travel across 3 African countries before turning 6. This early exposure has made me quite an inquisitive person, especially in areas of exploration and technological innovations. In fact, this was the cornerstone through which the foundation of both my academics and future career prospects would be laid upon.
I am fueled and fulfilled by projects that solve challenges in my community and better the lives of individuals especially solutions that positively impact the lives of women and youth.
I love Mapping and generally, I love making things easier for people. Given that in The Gambia about 70% of streets and buildings remain unmapped, in March 2018 I registered the first OpenStreetMap Chapter in the University of the Gambia called “Connected Youth Mappers” in collaboration with The Gambia YMCA Computer Training Center and Digital Studio. We have since collaborated with government agencies, International technology bodies to map important buildings, streets and locations around the country - including places of importance to women, hospitals & clinics, schools, computer centers.

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Read Jaria's blog Map 2020 Gambia - KomboYon

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Kwame Odame, 2019-2020

GHANA

Hello! My name is Kwame Odame and I am with the UCC YouthMappers chapter at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. Apart from being a Ph.D. student in Geography and Regional Planning, I also work with the National Disaster Management Organization. The opportunity to deploy simple tools in my pursuit to make a difference is a responsibility I have embraced. In addition to improving visibility of the unmapped, this community has offered me the platform to engage local leaders in solving some challenges confronting local farmers and agro-processors in Ghana. I am excited to be a YouthMapper and can’t wait to extend our footprint to other parts of Ghana. Let's connect and see how we can collectively harness the power of the youth and technology. My handle on Twitter and OSM ID is @pkodame. Let's talk!

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Read Kwame's blog Diary of a Regional Ambassador: Travel and Work Flow; Feeding Ghana through the eyes of female farmers

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Laura Mugeha, 2019-2022

KENYA

Laura is a Geospatial engineer, a YouthMappers alumni, and is a 2019 YouthMappers Leadership Fellow. She is passionate about achieving sustainable development, both locally and regionally, and is keen on redefining the use of open data and open source technology to solve challenges faced on a day to day basis. She has previously presented on the use of Geospatial technologies in achieving sustainable development at the State of the Map Tanzania (2017), the global State of the Map  2018, FOSS4G 2018, and Geoweek 2018. With an interest in leadership and elevating youth voices, Laura has worked and volunteered with YouthMappers and the African Union's Office of the Youth envoy, where she has been able to support work that is mainly focused on these topics. Laura is also passionate about diversity and inclusivity of all, especially women and girls, and has previously organized for LetGirlsMap campaigns to address these challenges. Through this work, her blog was one of the 2018 Best YouthMappers blogs. Annually, she helps manage the African Women In Tech and Women in Analytics conferences that aim to connect, empower, and educate women in STEM.  Follow Laura @laura_mugeha

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Read Laura's blog post 3 years, 3 Stories, 3 Lessons Learnt

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Ndapile Mkuwu, 2020-2022

MALAWI

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Ndapile is a certified drone pilot, geospatial analyst, and technology enthusiast who is currently employed at the African Drone and Data Academy, where she is responsible for a large portion of the work that involves the use of geospatial data and open source platforms. She was one of the 2019 YouthMappers Leadership Fellows, and she served as a member of the Chancellor College YouthMappers chapter for a period of two years. She is interested in the use of drones for good and the application of geographical information to lessen the effects of natural disasters. In 2020, she co-founded an organization called MapMalawi and co-lead on a project that incorporated OpenStreetMap (OSM), drone technology, PGIS, and other geospatial technologies to map the country's largest refugee camp in order to assess the extent to which the population has access to basic needs services. She is a believer in the importance of female inclusion in STEM fields, and she is working hard to make this a reality in her community. Ndapile believes that when geographical data is exploited to its maximum capacity, it provides critical information to decision-makers. Her objective is to inspire and empower young people to take the initiative in creating and disseminating this vital information. Follow Ndapile @Ndapile_M

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Read Ndapile's blog post If you can't see it, you can't be it

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Raya Idrissa Ahmada, 2020-2022

TANZANIA
 

Raya Idrissa Ahmada is a graduate of Msc. In Telecommunication at the Technical University of Denmark. She is an Assistant Lecturer at the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA). She is very passionate about data science and is researching in the areas of open source GIS tools and data analysis. She is also keen in mentoring the students to come up with innovative ideas to solve existing problems in the community. She has worked with students in several development projects such as the STEM for Success Project Zanzibar, as a technical assistant with Kiokit (a digital classroom technology), and with the Resilience Academy as an internship coordinator to help equip the youths with the tools, knowledge and skills to ensure resilient urban development. She is also the faculty mentor for the SUZA YouthMapper’s chapter. She has also proposed to initiate Mshauri STEM Initiative with the aim of helping young girls to be willing to take STEM careers. Connect with Raya on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook.

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Read Raya's blog post State University of Zanzibar inaugural YouthMappers training

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Sharon Omoja, 2022

KENYA

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Sharon is a GIS Analyst and a drone pilot who has a strong passion in geospatial applications in humanitarian actions with a keen focus on open data and in building inclusive and diverse spaces in the Open Mapping community.

 

She volunteers as a trainer at OSM Kenya and the HOT Training working group, organizing, consolidating training materials and training the global OpenStreetMap community on OpenStreetMap and data validation. She is also part of the HOT Community working group, working to improve the global HOT Community and part of OSM Africa Community where she volunteers in the coordination and organization of State of the Map Africa conferences and in planning and training on the OSM Africa Monthly Mapathons. 

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Her passion for gender equality and women empowerment led her to Women in Geospatial + (WiG+) https://www.womeningeospatial.org/ , where she serves on the executive board and leads the Inspire portfolio. She has also served on the communications team, leading the Women in Geospatial + Profile of the week features, promoting women’s self-promotion and challenging societal perceptions around women celebrating their achievements. Sharon was a mentorship coordinator during the second cohort of the WiG+ Mentorship Programme.

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Stellamaris Nakacwa, 2019-2021

UGANDA

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Stellamaris (W) Nakacwa is geomatics graduate, and a 2017 YouthMappers Leadership Fellow. She is extremely enthusiastic about geospatial technology and how it can be used to benefit development. She has aligned herself to understanding the integrity and quality requirements towards proper data management. She has expedited growth and inclusion of fellow youths into open and humanitarian mapping through her team leading roles and is continuously supporting this cause. Currently, she is a Regional Ambassador which is extremely exciting to grow as well as link people to the geospatial resource. On the side, Stella does hold a deep interest in the fundamental aspects of spatial data and database management as well as leadership to engage in the mobilization for community participation. She is determined to bring to the exploitation of geospatial technology apt for land management because land is at the center of any country’s development especially in Africa. Follow Stella @Stella_Wava

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Read Stella's blog SHARING IS CARING – How to ensure diversity inclusion among YouthMappers: Post-COVID-19; Mapping a bridge across the Atlantic Ocean (co-written blog post)

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Tigidanke Fofana, 2022

SIERRA LEONE

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Tigidanke Fofana is a Geologist/Environmentalist at the CEMMATS GROUP LTD,  a leading mining, engineering, and project management consultancy firm in Sierra Leone. She is a skilled professional with experience in carrying out environmental impact assessments for mining, engineering, and other relevant projects. She holds a Bachelor of Science with honors in Geology from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. 

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As a tech and geospatial enthusiast, she joined the OpenStreetMap community in 2016 and co-founded her country’s first university chapter. Serving in the capacity of coordinator, she helped establish three other university chapters in her country. She supervised the power grid mapping project in her country that provided data for the energy sector to support the design of electricity distribution networks in rural areas. 

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Tigidanke is a certified graduate member of the Sierra Leone Institution of Geoscientists (SLIG). As a mid-career professional, she is particularly interested in the research, development, innovation, and use of analytical geospatial technologies relevant to formulating and implementing sustainable solutions based on concepts of natural processes to create a more sustainable and viable environment.

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Tommy Charles, 2020-2022

SIERRA LEONE
 

Tommy Charles is a Geography graduate from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He is a mapping enthusiast and has interests in data science. In  2017, he was a scholar at the global State of the Map conference where he made a presentation about the inclusion of small and new OpenStreetMap communities. Since then, he has been helping to build the OpenStreetMap community in Sierra Leone by training students, establishing YouthMappers Chapters and establishing ties with humanitarian organizations. He is also a member of the OpenStreetMap Africa community and a voting member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.

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Read Tommy's blog The Journey of A YouthMapper; The Path of Reviving YouthMappers Chapters in Sierra Leone and Liberia

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Yusuf Suleiman, 2019-2021

NIGERIA

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Yusuf is a human-centered designer and Geo enthusiast who is very passionate about the environment, climate change, and public policy. He was a YouthMappers Leadership Fellow and he has gained extensive experience in research and data analysis. He has lead several advocacy campaigns that leverages on open data and technology to raise awareness about environmental and sustainability issues. There’s a huge difference between people talking about change, transition and sustainability and people doing it. Yusuf fits the last description. What describes him best is an innovative catalyst in each part of the process. He lives and breathes sustainability, instead of talking about it. And he’ll make it happen, whatever is required. Currently a UN Sustainable Development Solution network fellow, Yusuf is helping to localize the SDG 9a agenda in his city. His project is helping to rethink data as infrastructure, and bringing key stakeholders into the open data revolution; building and embedding a data culture in his city, and empowering citizens to make a difference. Tweet at him @el_useful

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Read Yusuf's blog How YouthMappers Are Contributing to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (co-written with Chomba Chishala); Learning from State of the Map Africa