Humanitarian OSM Team/Board/Board Meeting Minutes/23 March 2021

HOT Board Meeting 23rd of March 2021, 14:30 UTC

Attending

• Kate Chapman
• Felix Delattre
• Rob Baker
• Emmanuel (Maning) Sambale
• Tyler Radford
• Gertrude (Trudy Hope) Namitala
• Miriam Gonzalez

Excused

• Ben Abelshausen

Absent

• N/A

Observing

• Sarah Wise
• Geoffrey Kateregga
• Pete Masters
• Can Unen

Chair

• Felix Delattre

Call to order

Meeting called to order at 14:36 UTC by Chair Felix Delattre.

Quorum

Yes

Approval of Previous Minutes

• Approval of the previous minutes (February)

Motion by Kate: Approve the February minutes.

Motion approved.

Previous Action Items

• Clarification statement on the roles of committees and working groups (All) - WIP
• Review proposals for board roles and committees (All) - Done
• Comply with article 8.1 for the next board meeting (Executive committee) - Done
• Review slides from Tyler and reach out to Governance Working Group (GWG) afterwards around advisory group structure for the board (Ben) - Pending
• Adjust and share the HOT-OSMF MOU draft (Ben) - WIP
• Next GWG meeting date to be confirmed by Board’s executive assistant with Ben (Felix) - Pending
• DocuSign Dec 2020 and Jan 2021 Board meeting minutes (Miriam) - Pending
• Delegate to Community Working Group to choose individuals to give 5 minute updates (Felix) - WIP
• Reach out to facilitators to get feedback on their participation [for screen-to-screen sessions]. (Miriam) - WIP
• Conduct screen-to-screen session (Miriam) - WIP
• Follow up from Strategy Committee side and consolidate communication with voting membership (Rob) - WIP
• Complete group of the Code of Conduct (Trudy, Kate) - (Pending)
• SOTM Africa Committee - coordinate a quick meeting (Trudy) - WIP

Circular resolutions approved since previous meeting

• None to report

Contracts approved since previous meeting

• 03/15/2021; MOU; Between core Partners (iMMAP, Alcis, CartONG, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, MapAction) of the Geographic Information Management Initiative for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery. Approved 03/18/2021.

Agenda

Operations update

Presenting: Tyler - HOT Monthly Roundup - March 2021

• It was noted that the International Women's Day events were not specific to HOT, the listing was organised by the Community Working Group.
• The Board was informed that the Communications Working Group has not been active and has therefore been dissolved. This was discussed further in Agenda Item 6.5.

Executive committee update

Presenting: Felix

• Items discussed at the last meeting were: Conflict of Interest with Staff Voting Members and Board elections, discussing measures with Tyler and Matt to implement them as procedures for the next Board election.
• The Board’s Committee-Working Group statement requires more clarity about the Working Groups (WG) before it will be published, for example, which WGs are active or should be merged. This was discussed further in Agenda Item 6.5.
• There has been a suggestion for the Community WG to provide brief updates at Board meetings, asking Voting Members if they would like to provide these updates.
• Suggestions for Bylaws changes have been identified by the Board, they are being prioritised and will be passed to the Governance WG (GWG).
• A Screen-to-screen Board Meeting is still to be scheduled and was discussed further in Agenda item 6.6.

Risk Management committee update

Presenting: Felix

• A workshop will be held internally by a HOT Staff member who is knowledgeable within Risk Management. The Risk Management Committee and Board will both be able to attend. The Risk Management Committee meeting in April has therefore been cancelled in lieu of this workshop.
• Other organizations have been contacted to learn how they do Risk Management. If the Board has contacts within other organizations who they believe can help, please get in touch with either Felix or Maning.

Code of Conduct committee update

Presenting: Trudy

• The next meeting date is being discussed and to be confirmed.

Board participation in Working Groups

Presenting: All

• The Board's Statement on the Board’s participation in Committees and Working Groups (WG) is being reviewed. The Board’s Committee roles have taken priority over their WG roles and the Board is discussing which WGs the Board would attend. HOT and the HOT Board have both grown over time so it is not feasible for Board members to attend all meetings. Board members have expressed an interest in participating in WGs out of personal interest as voluntary members and not only as part of the mandatory quota of Board members.
• There are some WGs which aren’t, or haven’t been, active, namely, Communications WG, Fundraising WG, Imagery Coordination WG and Security WG. People interested in the Security WG are now part of the Risk Management Committee, the Imagery Coordination WG is a sub-working group of the Tech WG.
• At the Executive Committee meeting it was discussed that, in the past, the Board has established these non-active WGs. The Board is wondering if it is its responsibility to close the non-active WGs. A clearer process is required for the Board to (re-)open a WG, such as the WG assess and present due diligence to the Board if it is to be (re-)opened or can be merged with another WG. A short checklist of steps to start a new WG and get it approved by the board would be useful.

Motion by Felix: Close the Working Groups which haven’t met so far, that is, Security as well as Image Coordination.

Motion Approved.

• The ED reported that part of the Fundraising WG’s Terms of Reference (ToR) is now covered by 0.5 HOT Staff member who is working on proposal development and fundraising for HOT. There is currently no leader nor interest in joining this WG to carry out the other ToR. This WG is dormant so can be closed until somebody expresses interest in leading this WG. It was suggested that if the Fundraising WG is to close, then ask fundraising staff, and the community, if they would like to present their fundraising ideas and work to Board members, discuss their collaboration with the Board to explain how fundraising is working internally within HOT and how to transform fundraising ideas into action.

Motion by Felix: Close the Fundraising Working Group.

Motion Approved.

• The Communications WG has been dissolved so don’t need to wait to decide on closing this WG. If this WG is to join the Community WG will this WG’s ToR change?

Motion by Rob: Close the Communications Working Group.

Motion Approved.

• The HOT Website needs to be updated to reflect these changes

Screen-to-screen session

Presenting: Miriam

• Allen Gunn has been contacted with regard to which dates suit him. He has suggested doing a hybrid training, with the current Board members as soon as possible and then continuing these activities with the new Board members. The Board will propose a hybrid option using Doodle, based on Allen’s availability.

Strategic plan 2022-2025

Presenting: All

• The topic of whether HOT needs to extend or revise it's existing 2019-2021 plan was discussed. Various options were presented including 3,5, and 10 year plans. The ED reported that the staff team is working on a short-term, 1-year implementation plan to bridge the gap between the current strategic plan and the Audacious Project vision.

Motion by Miriam: Put a Strategy Plan together with the Strategy Committee.

Motion Approved.

Whistleblower process

Presenting: All

• The Voting Members have asked that a Whistleblower Process and Policy be the responsibility of the Board. The ED reported that there have been some mechanisms in place, HOT Staff members have been able to submit a confidential report via the HOT Intranet and external parties have been able to report via the HOT website. A Whistleblower Policy is currently being drafted by HOT which will be shared with the Board to review and approve.

Motion by Felix: HOT Board to define a whistleblower process and for it to be an action item for the Board.

Motion Approved.

Other business

Presenting: All

• The Board would like to invite the Voting Membership to present at a Community spotlight during HOT Board meetings. The Initial idea was to have a “mission moment” and inject some excitement into the Board meetings, that it not be part of the ogranisationation aspect of HOT and to be closer to the community. Examples of Community Spotlights are Microgrants and priority countries. More discussion is required on this topic.

Motion by Felix: Table this topic (Community spotlight during HOT Board meetings) for the next Board meeting.

Motion Approved.

Questions from voting members

• No questions.

Tabled topics

The following are not reflected in the notes because there have been no action since the last Board meeting.

• Financial committee update (committee did not meet)
• Role of local boards (waiting for feedback from Governance WG and screen-to-screen)
• Approval of staff contracts (waiting for feedback from screen-to-screen)

New Action Items

• SOTM Africa: send an email to the Board regarding a meeting date with HOT (Trudy) - Pending
• Closed Working Groups: The HOT website needs to be updated to reflect these changes (Community WG, Security WG, Image coordination WG, Fundraising WG) (Tyler) - WIP

• Screen-to-screen meeting : Propose a hybrid option using Loomio, based on Allen’s availability (Miriam) - Pending
• Put a Strategy Plan together with the Strategy Committee (Rob) - Pending
• Risk Management workshop: send an invitation to the Board to attend (Felix) - Pending
• Board to review the draft of the whistleblower process (All) - Pending
• Community spotlight during HOT Board meetings: Table this topic for the next Board meeting (Miriam) - Pending

Next board meeting

April 13th 14:30 UTC

Adjournment

Chair Felix Delattre, declared the meeting adjourned at 15:58 UTC

Minutes approved

These board meeting minutes were approved on 27 April 2021.