Guest blog – Valerie Odeam Osuamkpe (Ag.Team Secretary General,UMT) and Victor N.Sunday (Team Coordinator)

On the 23rd May 2018, the UniqueMappersTeam went on the first official visit to Transparent Earth Nigeria Ltd. The event agenda consisted of presentations, an MOU negotiation between Transparent Earth and UniqueMappersTeam (UMT), speeches, and a vote of thanks.

Introductory speeches were given by the coordinator of UMT, Mr. Victor N.Sunday, and Dr. C. L. Eze, the Managing Director of the company and a brief presentation was made by the Technical Manager on the geoscientific activities Transparent Earth Nigeria Ltd. UMT presented on several topics including; UniqueMappersTeam’s key activities, YouthMappers as a global network, UMT’s relationship with Humanitarian Openstreetmap Team (HOT), how to map on OpenStreetMap, the LetGirlsMap branches, vulnerable communities and their needs in Nigeria, an introduction to field data collection, the essentials of mapping and common technical challenges.

A drafted Memorandum of Understanding between Transparent Earth Nigeria Ltd. and the UniqueMappersTeam was sent to the company before UMT’s visit. This visit was an official platform to negotiate on the content of the MOU draft to strengthen the already existing local partnership between the two parties. It was as successful meeting and there was a positive response from Transparent Earth to accept UMT members as interns, field data collection surveyors and technical assistants.

A major feat of the day’s deliberation was the announcement of an employment opportunity for our Director of LetGirlsMap, who currently works with Transparent Earth as a graduate trainee. Further to this, the company also agreed to provide a funded award, the Annual Best Mappers Prize Award, to the best mapper from UniqueMappersTeam. Under the MoU, Transparent Earth Nigeria Ltd will continue to build relationships with the UniqueMappersTeam as local partners for mutual benefits. The Managing Director, Dr. C.L.Eze proudly declared himself as a UniqueMapper and requested members of his staff to join this action to promote the use of humanitarian mapping using OpenStreetMap.

To wrap up the event, a representative of Transparent Earth gave a farewell speech while Miss Ifeoma, the Director finance of UMT gave a speech focusing on the ‘Let Girls Map’ wing of UMT and its impact on female participation. Mr. Victor Sunday, the coordinator of the team, gave the vote of thanks.