11-21, 13:05–14:05 (UTC), Room 2
Language: English
We discuss the impact on outreach and the opportunities that have prevailed to help YouthMappers chapters active. School closures due to COVID-19 have brought significant disruptions to education across global. Emerging evidence from some of the region’s highest-income countries indicates that the pandemic is giving rise to learning losses and increases in inequality. One of the limitations of emergency remote learning is the lack of personal interaction between teacher and student. However, several universities have shown initiative by using other methods to improve the remote educational experience, including social media, email, telephone, and even meeting applications.
Bridging YouthMappers through the Pandemic: Covid-19 has affected the activities of YouthMappers, in Universities and Colleges. The COVID-19 pandemic is primarily a health crisis that has changed the tradition way of doing things. Many countries have decided to close schools, colleges, and universities. The crisis crystallizes the dilemma policymakers are facing between closing schools (reducing contact and saving lives) and keeping them open (allowing workers to work and maintaining the economy). Many families around the world feel the severe short-term disruption; home schooling is not only a massive shock to parents’ epically in Africa, but also to student’s social life and learning. Teaching is moving online on an untested and unprecedented scale. Regardless of determinations to replace schools with remote learning, these days of learning loss has led to desperation but many counties in Africa have been trying to ensure that they find ways to get as many students to go back to school as soon as possible. This crisis has fostered intangible goodwill that could materialize in significant education reforms provided we seize every opportunity to learn lessons from the pandemic. We discuss the challenges of covid-19, its impact on outreach, and the opportunities that have helped YouthMappers chapters to prevailed and remain active.
Stellamaris is EverywhereSheMaps YouthMappers Regional Ambassador contributing to active engagement and empowerment of young women in technology. She is currently attending her graduate program in Geography at the University of West Virginia, United States. She holds a BSc. in Geomatics & Land Surveying and experience in geospatial technologies for land and socio-economic development, obtained through numerous projects and as a YouthMappers. She is also a sitting board member of MapUganda, a Uganda NGO working to promote the power of geo-crowdsourcing [OpenStreetMap] for the public good.
