News — 28 June, 2010

Haiti mission 3 - A final mapping party in Carrefour (Port Au Prince) at The Base Navale Amiral Killic and ADRA.

The final day of HOT's third deployment to Haiti was no less busy than all the other days.  This training day did in a way mark a culmination of all the previous work.  Class occured in Carrefour, which was one of the metropolitan areas worst hit by the quake.   Personnel from organizations active in the Shelter Cluster trained on the OSM stack and joined the IOM teams engaged in OSM base lines surveying. The training was entirely facilitated by the personnel from CNIGS and from the Forum Communautaire of Cite Soleil (FOCS) under contract with IOM.    Abed (GIS) and Emmanuel (Head of surveys) from CNIGS lead both the training and surveying.

This event was a result training delivered the previous week to Shelter Cluster workers at the UN Logbase as well as the follow-up work by IOM and Shelter Cluster IM/GIS coordinator together with HOT. There were many organizations that helped bring this training together.  Logistics support was provided by The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), IOM and CARE.  ADRA provided our venue for training in basic editing in JOSM, IOM and CARE provided transport for the exercise.

Frederic Moine kick started the day at the Base Navale Amiral Killic of the Haitian military navy located in Carrefour. This was where the pre-field training on OSM-based survey techniques (GPS, Walking Papers and Questionnaires) took place.  He presented the work IOM lead on Port Au Prince baseline data. Nicolas introduced the OSM project, the WikiProject Haiti and the work of HOT in Haiti focusing on the training kit aimed at empowering a Haitian OSM community.  Next Abed and Emmanuel from CNIGS and under contract with IOM did a excellent and fascinating job, training in kreyol the assembly on OSM surveying techniques.  As well as on the UNSDIT Road and Obstacle Questionnaire used by the World Food Program and the UN Logistics Cluster to maintain the road condition status map of the main Haitian logistics corridor. The IOM teams made use of this humanitarian logistics standard assessment package to allow for a metropolitan road condition map.

The group split in small teams composed of Shelter Cluster trainees and IOM surveyors to run hands on training sessions prior to departing for field surveys.  This  was per the survey plan designed by Abed and Emmanuel before hand.  Senatus and Guensmork (Forum Communautaire of Cite Soleil - FOCS) and Kate, Trevor and myself (HOT) left the Base Navale to reach the Office of ADRA and set up the classroom for the training. The training then resumed mostly facilitated by the IOM teams supported by Kate and Nicolas and was successful exposing all to the whole basic editing process. Though it was insufficient to furnish the trainees with adequate skills to join on their own the IOM teams. The group broke out prior the heavy rain with the promises to resume the exercises.

Back at the logistics base final preparations for departure occurred.  This included taking inventory of the remaining HOT kits and planning for the future of HOT in Haiti.

Kate and Nicolas for HOT.