State of the Map Africa 2021/Call for venues/Kenya
State of the Map Africa 2023 - Nairobi, Kenya
Jambo!
Welcome to the bid proposal page to host State of the Map Africa 2021, in Nairobi, Kenya.
Photo by Mustafa Omar on Unsplash
SotM Africa 2021 - Nairobi vision
In Kenya and Africa at large, problems faced by the growing geospatial industry include, public data governance, accessibility to relevant data, communicating relevant information from the data to the target audience and utilization of the same information for decision making and policy formulation. Through State of the Map Africa 2021, OSM Kenya aims to bring together OSM communities in Africa to Kenya to share their experiences and work as well as their achievements mapping Africa on OpenStreetMap. This will increase OpenStreetMap awareness to individuals in Kenya ( and all conference attendees) organizations and the Government of Kenya and in the end utilize the knowledge and skills gained during the conference to help create a well-established open data for decision making platforms for Africa.
Why Nairobi?
Nairobi is the capital and the largest city of Kenya, the most economically empowered city and a major business hub in East Africa. The name Nairobi comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nairobi which means ‘cool water’ , a reference to the Nairobi River flowing through the city and it is also known as the ‘Green City in the Sun’. The metropolitan urban center (1°09′S 36°39′E and 1°27′S 37°06′E ) has an estimated population of 4,397,073, according to the 2019 Population Census.
Nairobi will be hosting Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team(HOTOSM's) East Africa regional hub under the Audacious project and this is of importance to OSM communities in Africa and in the region as it will facilitate exchange of ideas and expertise across countries and support the growth of the existing OSM communities.
Additionally, two international conferences will be hosted in Kenya in 2021:
Seeing wildlife with a backdrop of the city skyline makes Nairobi special as it is the only capital city in the world with a national park. It is also the home to David Sheldrick’s trust, best known for protecting orphaned baby elephants, the animal orphanage, the Giraffe center, Mamba(crocodile) village, Karura forest, Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi Museum, and Snake park among others.
Who is the SotM Africa Nairobi Team?
The Nairobi bid team is composed of OpenStreetMap enthusiasts from OpenStreetMap Kenya (OSM Kenya), a local community that acts as a nexus among other Kenyan OSM users, YouthMappers, and other organizations using OSM in their work. Our team has members in OSMF foundation, experienced members in conference organizations who have organized State of The Map and State of the Map Africa conferences, Open Data Day, FOSS4G 2020 Online.
Our team members are;
- Sharon Omoja
- Walter S. Mayeku
- Elijah K Karanja
- Laura Mugeha
- Victor Gitonga
- Isaiah Wandabwa
- Strong Muhoti
- Zacharia Muindi
- James Magige
You can contact us at osmkenya@gmail.com
When?
We propose November for the conference month as Africities 2021 and OpenData Conference 2021 (ODC 2020 was postponed to 2021) are happening in the same month in Kisumu and Nairobi respectively. This can help us get attendees interested in 2 or all of the three conference register and even share a program together especially for the OpenData conference that will happen in Nairobi.
Where?
Our anticipated number of conference attendees for SoTMAfrica 2021 are 300 people and Nairobi offers a selection of various and suitable venues for the conference. Our proposed venues are, University of Nairobi, Strathmore University and the New Boma Hotel. All these venues have conference rooms that are in a capacity to host up to 500 attendees, rooms that can be used as breakout sessions for workshops and presentations and which can host up to 100people.
A budget quote for the one of the venues is enclosed in the budget below.
University of Nairobi, Chandaria Centre.
Transportation
Getting to and around Nairobi is pretty straightforward thanks to the various modes of transporting connecting to the city.
Air
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi is Africa’s premier hub and ideal getaway into and out of East and Central Africa and boasts of over 40 passenger airlines. International airlines fly to Nairobi from Europe, United States, Asia, Middle East, and Africa and Kenya Airways is a major airline hub to most African countries and destinations.
Bus
Nairobi can be reached via buses especially by those people coming from and around East Africa with a maximum transport cost of $35.
Around Nairobi
London has red buses, the Philippines has the Jeepneys, New Delhi auto-rickshaws, Tanzania dala dala, and Nairobi has its matatus. Matatus is a slang for minibusses that are used as the main public transport in Nairobi with prices are up to $1 to the maximum. Other modes of getting yourself around Nairobi are by Nduthis (Motorbikes), taxi services such as Uber, bolt, in driver, little cab among others.
Photo/twitter.com/@matwanaculture
Accommodation
As a popular city for tourists, Nairobi provides plenty of options for accommodations for just short bus rides, taxi, or walk to and from our proposed conference venues.
Hotels
Nairobi boasts of a variety of hotels ranging from 5 star hotels like Villa Rosa Kempinski, Intercontinental hotel, Boma inn, Hilton Hotel, Golden Tulip, Ibis Styles among others down to 1 star hotels that can offer comfortable accommodation all depending on one's budget and preferences.
Hostels and Dormitories
The Kenya Young Men Christian Association(YMCA) provides hostels options ranging from shared dorms to private single or double rooms and is a walking distance to and from Nairobi CBD.
Airbnb/Private homes
These are available throughout the city from as little as $9 per night and can also accommodate larger groups.
Budget
| Item | Quantity | Amount in KSH | Total Amount in USD | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | 3days | 500,000 | 5000 | Amount in Ksh and USD is inclusive of the 3days |
| Pre-conference marketing | 200,000 | 2000 | Marketing the conference will start as soon and up to few days to the conference | |
| Catering | 3days | 1000 per person per day | 9000 | We have quotes from various catering service providers and this is the average. |
| Scholarships | 35 | 85,000 | 29750 | The number of scholarships is just an estimate of how many
people we would like to be supported to Nairobi for a scholarship. This number may change depending with the scholarships committee. |
| Tshirts | 300 | 400 per Tshirt | 1200 | |
| Banners | 4 | 8000 per banner | 320 | |
| Stickers | 1000 | 25,000 | 250 | Amount Inclusive |
| Conference Package | 300 | 2000 | 4500 | This include bags, pens, notebooks among others. |
| Media Coverage (Photography & Videography) | 3days | 100,000 | 1000 | Amount in Ksh and USD is inclusive of the 3days |
| Social event | 1day | 400,000 | 4000 | |
| Security | 2 | 5000 per person/3days | 300 | |
| Volunteers | 15 | 2000 | 300 | Amount will cover accommodation and few other expenses for the volunteers. |
| Miscellaneous | 300,000 | 3000 | ||
| Total | ksh 6,062,000 | USD 60,620 |
Miscellaneous
Visa policy for Kenya
Visa regulations to travel to Kenya states that citizens of approximately 45 countries can visit the country without the need to obtain a visa depending on the duration and purpose of the planned stay in Kenya. Kenya doesn’t offer foreign citizens the option of obtaining a visa on arrival but allows up to 140 countries and territories around the world to obtain a single entry electronic visa through an online application at least 7 days in advance of travel.
Citizens of additional 60 countries are required to obtain a visa from a government office, either an embassy or consulate.
See full list of of the various categories here Visa Policy for Kenya
Internet Connection
Kenya has the world’s 14th fastest mobile internet speed which is fast and reliable. This is according to a 2017 report from content delivery network Akamai Akamai
and is ranked first in internet speed in Africa.
Language
English and Kiswahili are obviously the primary language in Kenya and around Nairobi.