ISK Young Surveyors Baraza

Recorded event available from our YouTube link, on our home page (https://youtu.be/C5EQgjJ5Bts).

October 28, 2022: 09:00 – 12:00 EAT | Virtual Forum Link: https://impactborderlessdigital.com/event/employability-and-career-security-in-the-21st-century/

Featured book! Ready to pre-order and co-authored by the University of Nairobi alumni: A new practice-oriented book for senior geomatics students and experts: Project Design for Geomatics Engineers and Surveyors, Second Edition – (routledge.com)

Employment security. Career security. Skills revolution. Youth bulge. Demographic dividend. Globalisation. Deglobalisation. Slowbalisation. Global citizenship…

Where should the youth stand in today’s debate and diversity of worldviews on global and national development issues? For young surveyors, this special forum organised under the umbrella of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) is a gold mine of winning tips and a wellspring of hope in the ever-changing landscape of (geo)data-driven digital revolution. It has been established that 65% of the primary school pupils today will take on new job assignments not yet created today. Employment is becoming increasingly elusive for the youth but when talents are suitably matched to skills development, the outcome is a critical mass of innovative solution providers who can create jobs and enjoy career security as opposed to the fleeting employment security. 

In Africa, 40% of the population is aged below 15 and the median age is 19. This is a sharp contrast to the global figure (40% aged below 25, median age 31). Employability deserves a key mention, and rightly so for Kenya and similar countries where youth unemployment has for long stayed in double-digit percentages. Even more critical, however, is the youth’s capacity to develop adaptive resilience and transferable skills to help sustain relevance and attain career security in the dynamic labour market and digital economy. This webinar will share insights into the demands, responsibilities, and industry expectations placed upon today’s young learners and graduates so as to turn the tides in their favour. CVs, interview tips, productivity tools for a new era, scholarship tips, and many more will be covered.

Generational succession is inevitable, and so are labour market dynamics. Today’s learners face a new generation of challenges in education and skills development within a hyperconnected world experiencing a rapid data-driven digital revolution. The post-COVID-19 era has heightened the demand for digital fluency and lifelong skills development. Automation and globalisation are transforming the job market and careers, thereby enhancing the value mentorship offers suitable career choices and progressive skills development.

For most developing countries, the disruptive prospects for 5G, driverless and flying cars, miniaturisation and uncrewed aerial systems, extended reality and the metaverse, and quantum computing may come across as overly captivating, on the bleeding edge, and resting on the distant horizon at best. From confirmed cases across developed economies, these are cutting-edge innovations that will reach their technological maturity and eventual saturation in the not-so-distant horizon.

Radio Davos treated the world to a glimpse of multiplanetary existence and the multiverse by interviewing an astronaut from space during the recent World Economic Forum. Samantha Cristoforetti, the renowned female Italian astronaut who has managed to stay in space for 200 days, was as crystal clear in her communication with the interviewer on Earth as she was inspiring. To Kenya’s credit, another female expert, Sylvia Makario, a Kenyan geospatial engineer and graduate of both the University of Nairobi and Carnegie Mellon University (USA), was part of the interview panel in Davos, here on Earth. This experience affirms that space technologies are opening new frontiers to the world. It is a world already familiar with Earth Observation services and the civilian applications of global navigation satellite systems, satellite imagery, big data, and various forms of artificial intelligence.

At the scale of the Earth and to the majority who do not have the luxury of exploring space and indulging in space geodesy, complex unresolved challenges that require urgent solutions still persist. Climate change and environmental degradation, geohazards and global disasters, rapid urbanisation and crime amid rising youth unemployment, among others, form a critical share of the growing list of threats to humanity on Earth and sustainable development in this era. Understanding and applying geospatial and space technologies to effectively address such threats is the first point of entry into the solution space. Young people, hence young geomatics engineers and surveyors, must rise to the challenge. This special youth-centric forum, christened in Kiswahili as “Baraza”, will share some crucial ideas and ideals for making a difference.