COMMUNITY WORKING GROUP MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME

Ever felt cold shivers down your spine because of a particular challenge but at the same time you want to face it head on? This was exactly how I felt when Arnalie asked ‘Would you be available to facilitate for your group, Chisom?’ in her sweet subtle voice during one of our Mentorship review meetings.

I was shocked to my bones and I literally had goose pimples all over, I didn’t see it coming. It would be my first time handling such a role and my group members are all experienced persons in the geospatial sector. All I wanted to do was scream ‘Nooo!’ out of fear and uncertainty but at the same time, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself for a change, so, after a little silence while battling with these thoughts in my head, I responded ‘Yes, I’d love to’. After accepting the role, I was encouraged and she told me I could always reach out to her if I need her assistance.

After the meeting, I received a message of my expected duties as a facilitator and all I could say was ‘Lord, help me’.

Gradually, I started initiating conversations on the group slack page (which was one of my responsibilities) and on the 7th November, 2022 we held our first group meet where I was the official facilitator. As the time for the meeting drew near, I got more anxious, I could only hope to get it right.

Fast forward to the meeting and every other meeting and discussion we had as a group via Google Meet and on the slack page, all of which turned out great and smooth, all thanks to my awesome group members; Laxmi Goparaju, Anuradha Rajanayake, Antonin Haas and Charles Chilufya. They were all supportive, never withholding any of their great ideas to ensure we succeeded as a team and together, we were able to deliver our legacy project in good time. I grew more confident with each meeting.

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SOTM NIGERIA

The State of the Map (SOTM) Nigeria 2022 was the first of its kind to be hosted in my country, Nigeria and it was hosted by the Unique Mappers Network Nigeria.

I can still remember the first meeting we held as the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). There were lots of things we mapped out to do, we created sub-committees, scheduled to hold such meetings every Saturday, and several other plans in order to ensure that the program would be a success.

It wasn’t easy planning such a conference and there were times when I thought to myself ‘what if the program doesn’t turn out okay?’. There was so much we had to do in such little time and it always felt like we hadn’t done enough. However, I’ll continue to be grateful for Victor N. Sunday (Our National Coordinator) and Uchechi Anaduaka (Our Gender Program Coordinator) who were relentless in ensuring that we were all up and doing and that everything that needed to be in place for the conference was coming together gradually.

On 2nd December 2022, the long awaited conference was finally upon us and I was amazed at how our meetings and consistent planning efforts had culminated into such a wonderful event. The attendance (onsite and online), the venue, the refreshments, the paper presentations, the trainings, all turned out great and I am super ecstatic that I was part of the building process of such a memorable conference.

I specially extend my gratitude to Pete Masters, unSummit World Tour Program and Dr. Ibrahim Cisse (Director Western and Northern Africa Hub) for their timely interventions throughout the conference and in sponsoring all the travel grantees (I was one of them).

I am very excited about all that I leant being part of the planning committee for the conference and during the conference. I am also super optimistic that SOTM Nigeria 2023 will be greater and make more impact.

Thank you

Chisom Okwuchi,

Unique Mappers Network, Nigeria