News in 2022
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It was a pleasure to open the VCSP second wisdom workshop
last month, which on this occasion was organised and chaired by Israel Taiwo (Nigeria) and Claire
Buxton (New Zealand). Our FIG young professionals are
truly impactful in community projects that they are involved.
Whilst our FIG community is aware of VCSP initiative it is not
until you hear the enthusiasm, hear the passion and hear the
experiences that you truly appreciate the emerging leaders we
have in our profession. |
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Claire Buxton, Israel Taiwo, Diane Dumashie
I am so impressed by the path the VCSP has forged with strategic partners (GLTN, Cadaster Foundation and others).
Thanks to all for stepping up and to be willing to climb higher; I applaud you all.
Find out why…
The second Wisdom Workshop (WW) organised and chaired by Israel Taiwo and Claire Buxton was held in December 2021. With reference to my opening words and observations that I delivered at the workshop let me explain why it was so enlightening to be involved.
The VCSP is the signature collaborative outreach program of the FIG Young surveyor’s network providing young surveyors the opportunity to grow professionally whilst volunteering their time and skills to global communities undertaking humanitarian and environmental causes. The core values of VCSP are Volunteerism, Curiosity, Respect and Sustainability and of course I’d add, implicit in this is the strength of partnership working.
Specifically, the December 2021
workshop aimed to prepare young surveyors to engage in upcoming projects
involving tenure security challenges. Lead by Israel and
Claire, it sought to position participants as prospective volunteers,
enabling them to understand the specific requirements of the VCSP, the
deployment partners and the real-world situations.At
the core of the workshop were lessons shared from past volunteers.
There were a range of
presentations delivered in an engaging manner including from those who
had already had in-country experiences, panel discussions, expert
presentations and breakout brainstorming sessions. After the opening, Shristi Paudel and Jordan Friis shared
experiences as a Volunteer Community Surveyor (VCS). A panel
discussion was facilitated by Aaron Hick between Solomon Njogu of GLTN
and Justus Wambayi of Cadasta on the topic “Volunteering for pro-poor
land administration projects”. Claudia Stocker presented on “Tools for
identifying the challenges of tenure security on different scales”
before the tea break that led participants into the parallel session
where Royal Mabakeng of the Namibia University of Science and Technology
led the African Group, Roshni Sharma and Kamsin Raju led the
Asia/Pacific room and Claire Buxton facilitated the breakout meeting
between other participants of the world. David Elegbede presented
on the skills required to volunteer for Mapping Rights with special
consideration to specific skills required for the 2022 in-country
deployment of the VCSP. Markus Koper shared knowledge on “Using
the Trimble Penmap for Data Collection”. RICS director James Kavanagh
gave an expert presentation on “Harnessing solutions for land related
challenges” before the final closing message from Claire Buxton and
Israel Taiwo.
Above all, I could hear that
young surveyors are bringing their professionalism into this process
including skills that; Establishes a strong process that is evidenced
based; Creates confidence, and given my own work in gender equality I
also noted the action to strengthen women’s capacity; Building
leadership capabilities both of themselves and the communities in which
they are engaged.
Group discussions
The VCSP and project outputs have the basis to provide tangible outputs that enables multi stakeholder understanding and ownership. Demonstrably our young surveyors are growing in their stature, although this activity does require effort, patience and perseverance. This leads me to my next observation.
In my view, VCSP looks very clearly to the future; the very existence of this workshop demonstrates there is a road map that considers what is needed to continue with projects that will remain impactful and with positivity. The Wisdom Workshop creates:
Above all the VCSP initiative is truly stepping up, by developing a range of partnerships that enables the ability to volunteer skills. The country projects address challenges we find in our profession such as the need to better engage with public governance and other professional sectors and civic society, and recognizing the societal breath of land in both rural and urban settings.
And, within the energy of past action, presentation and upcoming projects I could hear that our young surveyors are also stepping up on the micro level (understanding, awareness and ground-based action) and macro level (the institutional mechanism).
During VCSP deployments our young surveyors are leading and instigating change. They will find that change cannot be demanded but their activities certainly provide momentum for change, at domestic and/ or political levels. In addition ownership of the process is facilitated with the host communities; it is they that are the implementer’s. Above all the activity aims to ‘leave no one behind’ in each community.
I see that our young professionals if not before, certainly come away from the experience as growing leaders to influence and steer societally change. They have the opportunity to learn their own approach to leadership that is measured and improves their communication skills. Further they understand the benefits of networks and continue to learn the best ways to navigate within them. I encourage our young surveyors to build on the network strength they have in the VCSP and maintain it throughout their career. Thanks to all for stepping up and to be willing to climb higher.
This is why, and I hope dear reader you agree, well deserved applause to all our young surveyors.
Diane A Dumashie, FIG Vice President
January 2022
