Two final year students of the Federal University of Technology Akure FUTA, Oluwabukola Babalola , Meteorology and Climate Science and Victor Ademoyero, Remote Sensing and GIS , have been selected for the role of Regional Ambassadors for YouthMappers , an international university consortium on Mapping for Resilience.
The United States Agency for International Development generously supports the Youthmappers program through a grant from the USAID GeoCenter.
To be so designated , the two FUTA students won a global contest involving 75 contestants from Universities across the world. 13 undergraduates including the two FUTA students were successful .
The organisers considered the entries from Babalola and Ademoyero excellent enough to named the two of them ambassadors in spite of the fact that only one student is usually selected per region of Africa.
Nigeria got two slots from West Africa and the two are from FUTA.
As part of incentives for their new roles , the two FUTA students from the School of Earth and Mineral Sciences , as Youthmappers Ambassadors , will get funding and would be positioned for project grant opportunities.
YouthMappers Regional Ambassadors are selected from all across the world for their demonstrated leadership to mentor student leadership and provide support to other YouthMappers chapters through in-person technical training to ensure data quality in OSM contributions.
The consortium organizes a global community of learners, researchers, educators, and scholars to create and use open geographic data that directly address locally defined development challenges worldwide.
The program supports university efforts to offer meaningful global learning experiences, build a socially engaged citizenry, enhance long-term scientific capacity around the world, and foster youth leadership.
As regional facilitators, Babalola and Ademoyero carry the unique opportunity and responsibility to elevate students’ voices and contributions to open mapping in their region.
The Vice Chancellor Professor Adenike Oladiji, FAS has Congratulated the students . She said they have made FUTA proud while enjoining them to demonstrate excellence in their role, a trait , she says , is now synonymous with the FUTA brand and its products.
Their Citation by Youthmappers ….
Babalola Oluwabukola Kemisola
Bukola is an undergraduate student of Meteorology and Climate Science in one of the leading universities in Nigeria, The Federal University of Technology, Akure. Her interest is deeply rooted in engaging in projects that are geared towards community and global development through volunteerism. She has been able to carry out projects targeted towards solving climate problems like assessing the environmental impacts of quarrying activities, plastic pollution, etc.,
Thanks to her background in climate science. She is always on the lookout for the possibilities of utilizing technical skills like GIS to solve and respond to climate and environmental challenges. Bukola is well known among her peers as an advocate for the climate and environmental conservation and uses YouTube as a platform to reach a larger audience (The Weather and Everything with Bukola Iris). Her key goals involve advancing equity and ensuring a balanced representation of the minority and underrepresented while championing youth leadership. Bukola believes that mapping is an invaluable tool in tackling major challenges facing the world, hence she has been involved in various mapping activities for sustainable development. According to her, the power in the coming together of young people can be harnessed to bring solutions to the troubling issues of the world.
Victor Ayomide Ademoyero
Based in Nigeria
Victor Ademoyero is an ambitious and driven student at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, specializing in remote sensing and Geoscience Information System. With notable leadership achievements, Victor has excelled as the Vice President and President of YouthMappers at FUTA, inspiring fellow students to actively engage in mapping and drive positive change in their communities. Over the span of four years, Victor has made significant contributions to OpenStreetMap (OSM), showcasing his expertise in GIS and unwavering commitment to making a difference. He possesses a wealth of experience in both remote and fieldwork contributions to OSM, and has played a key role in supervising GIS fieldwork projects across various organizations. Victor’s technical proficiency extends to front-end development, demonstrated through his involvement in creating user-friendly GIS conference websites that advance geospatial technology across Africa. Notably, he was selected as a HOTOSM Data quality Intern in 2020 and actively contributes to the HOTOSM Data Quality Network for the Western & Northern Africa Hub, HOTOSM Global validator, and HOTOSM Training and Working group. Guided by his visionary leadership and passion for empowering the youth, Victor envisions a future where young individuals are actively involved in their communities, voicing their opinions, and driving change through mapping. He aspires to inspire others, fostering a generation that leverages mapping as a powerful tool to shape a better world.