Latest Contributions by WilliamTarpai

Thanks @JesseCloutier The question by @BriannaEttley is really one which could be asked and answered quite differently depending on how much time one may have spent outside of advanced economies, or whether you were brought up in places where development progress has NOT occurred so rapidly.  @EzraCheruiyot might have answered different than I, as he is from Kenya, and working to help young people be introduced and hone their GIS skill sets.  Young people who may still live in areas where indoor plumbing doesn't exist, where electricity allowing them to study at night is not dpendable, where disaswter risk reduction messages aren't always helping them avoid climate risks from flooding or poor infrastrucuture.  Hopefully he and I will be able to present Story Maps made by students describing surrounding around them as they gorw up.... ... View more

Wow, great post - The Leadership Summit is so critical to being able to give opportunities to those most in need.   The World Bank Group President at the 2026 Summer Session said, "the right building blocks are important to be productive.  Good primary and secondary education are important.  ...talent is everywhere but opportunities are not"...   What can our leadership be doing to get to a better place for all of us? ... View more

Having been living in Peshawar, Pakistan in the days leading up to 9/11/2001, as well as for almost 2 years afterwards, and having traveled in all 5 of the former Soviet Union states in Central Asia previously, being exposed to the importance of GIS while in Pakistan changed my life sustantially.  The aha moments started coming fast and furiously as I was able to dig down into data by location: it really started me thinking how important the work of coding is.    Now more than 2 decades later, changing times are requiring changing policies.   I appreciate ESRI Communities commentaries.   As we promote peaceful development, and advance sustainability, our work promotes human and civil rights, and the possibility for better lives for all who live in local communities. ... View more

Thanks @JordanDuft  for posting.  It has taken me several efforts to go through it all, but definitely about the need for timely discussions to be engaged on this platform.  the importance of live training can NOT be overstated!   I'm planning to spend lots of time fully understanding what you have posted as well as digging down into the numerous links. ... View more

Thank you Ezra and Tonny,  Your support for local development in Bomet County is noteworthy.  I am hoping to gather mappers who are interested in Lorcal or international but sustainable development projects to help us set up a distinct ESRI COMMUNITY for Kenyan development.    Keep up your good works.   ... View more

@Gisbert61   Thanks for posting to start this discussion.  @EzraCheruiyot  Ezra and I were also seeking both locals and internationals to help us introducing students in Bomet County (NE Kenya near Lake Victoria) get introduced and honing mapping skill sets.    Bomet and Machakos Counties have recently received 4 shipping containers from Books for Africa, and people are beginning to read lots of new books.  We are trying to help student prepare Story Maps about their experiences.   ... View more

@KusalJana   Allow me to provide a link you may wish to ponder if you are interested in work in East Africa https://kenya.un.org/en/sdgs. Write to one or more of the UN agencies in Nairobi, and let them know what you are interested in.   ... View more

Great post and wonderful discussions, Thanks to everyone in the community responding.   @EzraCheruiyot   Imagine how we have to plan our approaches working with students in the field who may or may not have dependable access to the internet, but are just starting to learn how to build their skill sets It reminded me of the ESRI START UP page https://www.esri.com/en-us/about/partners/our-partners/startups?rsource=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.esri.com%2Fen-us%2Fabout%2Fesri-partner-network%2Four-partners%2Fesri-startup-program  ... View more

@EzraCheruiyot. Although we do have various level of GIS education and experience, neither of us have GIS in our job titles today. But we have now been able to deliver thousands of books, but only a limited amount of reconditioned computers to some of these 9 Bomet County, Kenya school: 1. Tenwek High School 2. Chebonei Girls High School 3. Chebilat Boys High School 4. Itembe Secondary School 5. Kaplong Boys High School 6. Kitaima Junior School 7. Kaplong Girls High School 8. Kiriba Integrated Secondary School 9. St.Mary Mixed Junior School Now we are trying to introduce local students to mapping and spacial analysis.  But we have many challenges:as a recent Safina Empowerment report documented: Infrastructure remains a major bottleneck. Only Tenwek High School had a functional library; the other eight schools had none. A targeted 2023 study in Bomet Central Sub-County (highly relevant to the project area) found that 86.3% of schools lacked ICT laboratories and had no access to digital tools, while 82.1% lacked functional libraries. Additional gaps include classroom shortages, inadequate sanitary facilities, and unreliable electricity—critical barriers as Kenya's Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) incorporates digital literacy and practical activities.    We are trying to provide good leadership and looks to our friends for help...   ... View more

@EzraCheruiyot I would like to collaborate with you to build Field maps of Bomet County, Kenya - Lots of good suggestions from members of this community to help avoid some problems.... ... View more

Hello @RosemaryBoone ,    Have you ever been to Kenya?    Imagine good roads, good access to water and sanitation, good access to the internet are major problems preventing more young Kenyan students from joining in discussions on Esri YPN Networking space.   BUT there are many potential YPN candidates who are working to improve their communities.   ... View more

Thanks to everyone involved with this post.  I spent an hour today in discussions with my colleagues at Safina Empowerment (a Kenyan NGO working to improve rural community development efforts in Bomet County.  Has anyone ever created a map that included Bomet County (near Lake Victoria, and on the borders with Tanzania and Uganda)?   If so, and you have an interest in helping student learn and hone ARCGIS mapping skill sets you may wish to contact me directly. (The Safina team has made photo and video recordings of their work distributing books to rural schools in Kenya you may wish to review) Our zoom call today included  3 new SAFINA EMPOWERMENT members (a 12 year old girl and a student ambassador (both Diana Award winners) who were involved in the first distribution of books to 9 local schools in Bomet County last week.   26,000+ books with some computer equipment were part of the Books for Africa 40 foot container shipment.  This post is truly noteworthy as in additional to the tips, it will certainly be helpful for avoiding future disaster of new learners. ... View more

@JeffreyThompson2     My colleagues in several Kenyan schools were discussing best ways to get some of the basic questions answered that beginning students have....   I suggested tuning into ESRI COMMUNITY once they are actually putting their fingers on the key boards to learn and hone their mapping skills..   Perhaps I should suggest some of your community inputs as well.... ... View more

Thank you @JeffreyThompson2  and ALL contributors to this post.  Just off the phone with a Safina Empowerment colleagues calling me from Bomet County, Kenya.  He was pleased to be informing me about contacts he and his team from Safina Empowerment had with Bomet County high schools administrators to deliver computer equipment for local students to begin to be introduced to mapping and spatial analysis skill sets.   We are hoping to speed up the pace for achieving successful Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outcomes in this decade.   Something New for Esri Partners at the 2025 Esri Partner Conference (EPC)    Anyone interested in supporting skill building of students in East Africa? ... View more

It is amazing how things happen when we are able to collaborate....  Today I have been in contact with colleagues in Bomet County, Kenya as they reached out to several local high schools, providing computer equipment that will hopefully bring new users into our community and community discussions. Helping students moving from finding out about ESRI software and tools on computers provided to their schools to being able to become regular contributors to this community is of course, a long process.  So I'm sure we'll be checking back next year to see how development may be happening in the regions along the coast line of Lake Victoria.... ... View more