<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><p dir="ltr">One of the problems with giving aid is only about a tenth of the money given is used in the way one would hope.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Probably the most pressing problem in Africa at the moment
is corruption and in many ways aid doesn't help this particular problem.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Mapping in OSM is way to assist without fear that the funds will be diverted.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Money given by government agencies stands a little more
chance that the aid will get through although there is always the
temptation to say it must be shipped on ships from the donor country or
must be spent on goods from the donor country.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Given that HOT Inc exists in the US and given the USA
culture, who else could elect Donald, I think we can expect them to
present themselves in this manner.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Whilst I would hope that requirements and benefits can be
presented I'm not sure that this is in the US tradition. Given the
attention span of the target audience again is it worth the effort to
HOT Inc? Should the message have been restricted to those with a US
address?</p>
<p dir="ltr">If I'm cynical then the task manager has been very
effective. The training group has identified problem areas and come up
with solutions. However HOT is not just HOT Inc there are many people
involved in creating maps and the tools used. Germany is home to many
of them. The OSM wiki contains much wisdom, the page I'm thinking of
was put together by a Canadian, well a Québécois which is practically
the same.</p>
<p dir="ltr">I'd like to see two slots on the most urgent slots in tasks
reserved for projects that are run by OSM groups in affected areas to
give some sort of recognition to the work they are doing. If nothing
else they're learning project management skills that they can apply
elsewhere.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In sum HOT Inc probably deserves some support but on transparency I think it could do better.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><br></p></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small" class="gmail_default">Note to Severin I trimmed the posted message down to fit under the 40k character limit for osmf and talk osm then reposted. The original was posted on the HOT mailing list.<br><br>Cheerio John<br></div></div></div>