FIG Foundation - Building a Sustainable Future
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Report from Meitena Navarro
FIG Foundation Young Surveyor Grant Recipient to attend the
FIG Working Week 2016 in Christchurch, New Zealand
How was your perception of attending the Working
Week?
My perception of attending the Working Week was positive in all the ways.
That gave me the chance to listen professionals from different parts of the
world and also could meet them and lots of young surveyors as well, and
share lots of experiences with them.
In addition, even though I already considered that surveying makes an
important impact to the society in lots of areas, I got impressive with all
we can do as surveyors to help development countries. I´m keeping that in my
mind to take my career to that side.
What sessions and other activities did you attend?
Most of the sessions I chose to participate where the ones related with
land administration and un habitat because they were the topics that I was
more interested in. If I went to a different one was to support the person
that was doing the presentation. Also every evening I attended the social
events, I went to the training to use the¨GLTN software, I did the 5k Run
and I was present at the Gala Dinner (invited by the Foundation).
What were the most important outcome for you from the Working
Week?
As I said, the beautiful people I met and finding out the social side of
surveying.
How have you been able to use the outcome of your participation
afterwards?
It´s hard to explain in short words but I´ve been separated from surveyor
work for a year.
When I participated in the Working Week I had just arrived to Australia with
a working holiday visa for a year, after graduating as a surveyor in
Argentina. It wasn´t in my plans but I met my boyfriend in Australia and
after a year together I decided to move to Australia and try to make my
career here.
I´ve just come back , after some months visiting Argentina where I did
some work there as a surveyor. I will have to complete three months with
tourist visa here so I´m not able to work yet.
But thanks to some people I met in the Working Week I got some papers about
Surveying Law in English so I´m becoming familiar with this topics. Also
other guy I met there have been talking me about his experience of being a
foreign surveyor in Australia.
What would you recommend to other applicants?
I recommend everyone the experience, I did a video talking about it for a
Conference of Young Surveyors in Argentina, my country, inviting everyone to
participate. Most of them were scare about the language, but I told them
that you don´t need to be perfect in English to understand the presentations
considering that the slide on the big screen helps a lots and also the
people I met were really kind with me and patient with my english. I hope
lots of people from my country and Latin America join the Working Weeks.
/Maitena Navarro
Argentina
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