My name is Namitala Gertrude (Trudy Hope). I am a Ugandan IT and GIS professional with over 5 years of experience in developing IT solutions, especially for mapping important features in remote villages and peri-urban areas in Zambia. I am currently working in Zambia where I co-founded OSM Zambia and a managing director TruDigital Technologies. I am one of the OSM Africa core team and have introduced OSM and HOT to different African countries,
I am part of OSM Africa and have supported different countries to establish OSM operations and given them guidance where need be. I got to know about Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team in 2016 when I wanted to use the tasking manager and was impressed at what HOT does. HOT’s ideology resonates with what I believe, so I wanted to contribute more. That is the reason I decided to join the HOT fundraising and HOT summit working groups.
I have led OSM Zambia for two years now and within this short period, the community has grown to over 800 mappers from a handful of mappers when we started out. OSM is now being recognized by the councils all over the country. Open map data sharing has gotten more recognition in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. I have also been advocating for women participation and inclusion in the mapping community. I have established partnerships with international organizations, government, NGOs, private companies, schools that have all supported our community.
I have been a board member and below are my interests in wanting to run again: To complete some of the topics that I believe should be done like board advisory and encourage the set up of a community engagement strategy To grow gender inclusion and get more women involved in HOT and OSM to increase diversity in the community. To get more partners supporting HOT’s mission
Thank you for taking time to read and I hope you vote for me and change the world together. `