News in 2022
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New leadership in FIG Africa Regional Network
March 2022
FIG Council has appointed Surv. Mohammed Mamman Kabir
from Nigeria as new chair of ARN
for the coming term however with immediate effect.
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Mohammed Mamman Kabir has been in and around FIG for
many years and is an active member of ARN. He is a tireless promoter
and supporter of young surveyors in Africa and in 2019 he
represented the Africa region at a FIG strategy seminar.
There will be a transition period during the coming months
between Jennifer Whittal and Mohammed Mamman Kabir
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Change of Leadership from Jennifer Whittal to Mohammed Mamman Kabir
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The Current chair of the Africa Regional Network, ARN, Jennifer Whittal,
took over the leadership in 2019 after FIG Vice President Diane
Dumashie for the term 2019-2022. During her leadership ARN has
continued to develop and grow and is today a vibrant network
with many activities and exciting undertakings and ideas for the
future development.
The lates initiative is a mentoring
programme in Africa. You can read more about this in this update
from ARN further down.
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Jennifer had expressed her interest to continue, however with her
academic profile FIG Foundation and FIG Council wished to see her as Director of the FIG Foundation. It is not
possible to continue in both positions at the same time. Jennifer has
kindly accepted to become one of the FIG Foundation Directors, although
she also expresses her sorrow to leave ARN.
FIG Foundation has been missing a director with an academic profile.
FIG Council decided to appoint Jennifer, and it was the wish of FIG
Foundation that Jennifer could take over soonest possible. This means
that she is actually already now appointed and installed as Director.
She has promised to continue for some time with ARN to ensure a smooth
transfer to the new chair of ARN.
FIG Council thanks Jennifer for her extensive work to continue the
growth of ARN over these past 3½ years. Having a strong network in
Africa is a true strenght for FIG. FIG Council is also certain that this
development will continue with Mohammed Mamman Kabir at the lead during
the next term.
Read more about the
appointement of two new Directors in FIG Foundation
In her newsletter, Jennifer Whittal informs about the Mentoring
programme in Africa and Voices of African Young Professionals:
A Structured Mentoring Programme in Africa
Sustaining our profession relies not only on the transfer of skills,
but also the institutional memory of the profession - the
intergenerational transfer of knowledge, experience, and inspiration
towards building a stronger future. A mentoring programme is an
important way of transferring the institutional memory of the
profession, to support the future of the profession, and bring surveyors
all over the world closer. It aims to engage the youth leading to their
integration into our professional and workplace structures providing
them with opportunities and to promote resilience in the profession.
The development of the mentoring programme began at the 2016 FIG
Working Week in Christchurch, where the concept of the mentoring
programme was developed. At the 2017 FIG Working Week in Helsinki, the
mentoring workshop, “Who Mentors You?” centred around facilitated
working groups involving young surveyors and FIG members to resolve the
issues and questions identified in the first workshop in a collaborative
way. The results of these workshops were documented and used to produce
the FIG YSN Mentoring toolkit, meant to guide young surveyors in the
development of mentoring programmes in their regions. During the 1st
Young Surveyors African Meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, in 2018, a
workshop was facilitated on the development of a mentoring programme for
African Young Surveyors.
The Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) of Australia
developed the concept for a structured mentoring programme in 2017 and
has been running an international mentoring programme with success since
2018. Over this time, over 700 mentors and mentees across the world have
participated, including strong participation from African countries.
SSSI was approach by FIG ARN and FIG YSN and responded with the intent
of strategically supporting the development of a mentoring programme
that can be delivered in Africa, and that is tailored to the cultural
context and specific career pathway focus of potential mentors and
mentees in African countries. Discussions with the SSSI Mentoring
Programme committee and SSSI CEO Tony Wheeler have extended to an
agreement that the SSSI Mentoring Programme team is happy to provide
this support alongside appropriate acknowledgement of team members and
of the mentoring programme IP that is being shared.
The programme will be managed by a team of representatives from the
FIG YSN, the FIG ARN, with strong support from the SSSi Mentoring
Programme Team. The initial pilot programme in 2022 will have limited
numbers. It will begin with an orientation session on the 9th April and
will conclude in July. This pilot will allow the FIG YSN and the FIG ARN
to work collaboratively in exploring the ways to bring young and
seasoned surveyors together as well as managing the programme for
further upscaling. Initial interest has been very good and so all
involved look forward to a successful pilot programme leading to a
well-designed and sustainable programme for the future.
Voices of African Young Professionals
The voices of African young professionals has been ongoing for over
12 months. The inspirational message from Carsten B at ESRI (Middle East
and Africa lead) to African Young surveyors in
Episode 6 of Turning the Tide
a mini-series in the Voices of Africa should encourage all. In this 2022
New Year message: We listen to Carsten Bjornson's (ESRI Middle East and
Africa) talk about geospatial infrastructure trends, what skills we can
use and why these skills and understanding matter to us in our work. Our
conversation concludes with Carsten's top tips for African
professionals.
I am also pleased to disseminate all current episodes of the Voices
of Africa – a series of conversations by young African surveyors for
African young surveyors. This 12 part series titled “Turn the Tide’ has
enabled Young surveyors to remain connected with their colleagues across
the continent. The aim is to share their experiences on a range of
topics over the course of last year and this year. There are more
scheduled later this year. All the conversations are recorded on Utube,
by African Young Surveyors, hosted by Dr Diane Awo Dumashie – do check
out the links on the ARN Facebook page.
Jennifer Whittal, March 2022
Louise Friis-Hansen
30 March 2022
