[Osmf-talk] OSM Uganda Local Chapter application

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 12/6/20 00:12, Simon Poole wrote:
> In the mean time however it seems as if the OSMF is so desperate to get
> more LCs that there are actually no conditions at all. From
> organisations that can't support themselves,  to such that  don't
> actually seem to be operating any kind of real membership scheme.

The Local Chapters FAQ says:

"What are the minimum requirements for a Chapter? Currently there are no
set in stone criteria outside of the following: you will have to be a
non-profit incorporated entity or part of one, the way you are
incorporated should allow easy and mass membership and democratic
participation in the decisions processes. Your group should be dedicated
to supporting the aims of the OpenStreetMap Foundation and the
OpenStreetMap project, however you can be part of a larger organisation
as long as that does not have conflicting goals."

So, "set in stone" are:

1. non-profit incorporated entity or part of one;
2. "should allow" easy and mass membership and democratic participation
3. "should" be dedicated to supporting the aims of OSMF/OSM


I could swear that there used to be a "financially self-sustaining"
requirement somewhere too but I cannot find it now.

This means that an organisation not having all three of these cannot
become a local chapter (or it means that the FAQ is incorrect).

Note how expecially 2. is worded in a weasly fashion; in theory you
could be incorporated in a way that allows easy mass membership, but not
make use of that feature.

> If the organisation applying for LC status doesn't fulfil the criteria
> then there should be no drama around saying no, not to belittle the
> group in question

[...]

> On the other hand, from day zero, it was always clear that there might
> be less involved relationships with other kinds of groups, be they less
> formal ad hoc user groups, thematic of a different nature and so on,
> explicitly because it is clear that the world is a large and diverse
> place and a one size fit all rule is not going to work everywhere, in
> particular not for nascent communities and third world countries.

The "local chapters congress" that occasionally happened at SotM has,
time and time again, discussed in how far we could have something like
"proto local chapters", where we lend a group some support on the way to
becoming a local chapter, but they're not there yet. This should
certainly be developed further, to avoid eagerly conferring LC status
onto organisations that cannot realistically fulfil the requirements.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"

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