“It was the best experience I ever had.”
Sheila Job Guilamba, 2021 Crowd2Map Intern
From August to December 2021, Crowd2Map Tanzania hosted nine YouthMappers students as interns through YouthMappers’ Everywhere She Maps Internship Match program. The results were incredible - both for the interns and for Crowd2Map’s efforts to fight Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Tanzania. YouthMappers staff interviewed Crowd2Map’s leadership and some of the interns to learn more about their experiences.
Here’s what Crowd2Map Tanzania’s leadership had to say…
“I was so proud to be the mentor on this scheme with Crowd2Map and helping to build capacity in geospatial technology in these amazing young African women. I hope that the skills they learnt will help them use GIS to solve the challenges their communities face.” - Herry Kasunga, Intern Mentor from Crowd2Map Tanzania
“I'm very grateful for YouthMappers and HOTOSM for helping facilitate this internship and organising training, and to Herry for his amazing weekly sessions. It was wonderful to see how quickly all the interns progressed, in terms of GIS skills, but also in confidence under his mentorship. I wish all of them well in their future careers and hope that they will share the skills they learnt on this programme widely.” - Janet Chapman, Founder of Crowd2Map Tanzania
Here’s what the interns had to say…
Crowd2Map Tanzania’s 2021 interns from left to right, top to bottom: Zamzam Juma Hamad (Tanzania), Sheila Job Guilamba (Mozambique), Lidia Sandifolo (Malawi), Asya Haji (Tanzania), Innocencia Sigfrid (Tanzania), Grace Mathenge (Kenya), Gifthope Kimambo (Tanzania), and Aminata Bah (Sierra Leone).
What do you enjoy most about your internship with Crowd2Map?
Lidia Sandifolo, Malawi: During this internship, I was very happy due to the various trainings that Crowd2Map Tanzania organized weekly. Those trainings helped me to see the other side of the world of GIS, and the field of mapping, and later I developed a keen interest in the geospatial industry. Apart from weekly training, I enjoyed the State of the Map Africa online Conference most, where I had the chance to interact, learn and share my knowledge with different people from various backgrounds in the field of mapping.
Gifthope Kimambo, Tanzania: I enjoyed mostly the caring and support I was given during the internship especially when I failed to apply some skills, our mentors were hand to hand with us making sure that we understood and applied the skills we got. For example, when you tell Herry Kasunga (our mentor) “I didn’t understand how to input data”, he will arrange a session for us all to understand that particular part.
Aminata Bah, Sierra Leone: I enjoyed everything about the internship but, what I enjoyed most is the weekly training sessions that we have with Janet. We were given the opportunity to explore some of the mapping tools and how they work. Everything in the training was explained in detail.
Sheila Job Guilamba, Mozambique: All the training. I participated in virtually all the trainings, where I learned that in fact data collected on the ground can develop solutions that can help society. First because with data it becomes possible to identify problems and with the same data develop solutions. I do not speak only of systems but also of ideas for personal growth as well as social.
Zamzam Juma Hamad, Tanzania: I got a new opportunity to meet people from different countries and work with them. I enjoyed evaluation day every Friday for feedback on what we did the whole week. For example, we were asked by everyone what we did during the week by saying a challenge we faced, how many hours we did validation on HOT Task Manager in the whole week, and the new things we learned.
Latifa Khamis Hemed, Tanzania: Through Crowd2Map Internship, I enjoyed many things like how we can use Slack Application for more interaction and how to use the Rovas system.
What would you tell a YouthMappers member who would like to apply for the Everywhere She Maps Internship Match Program?
Lidia Sandifolo, Malawi: I can advise YouthMappers members who would like to apply for this program to do so with total confidence since there is no room for regret but to appreciate and move forward in the field of the geospatial industry. This is so because Everywhere She Maps Internship Match Program is the only program that heals young women from blindness in the Geospatial industry. It also gives young women more energy to move forward by exposing them to various opportunities all over the world.
Gifthope Kimambo, Tanzania: I will advise that there is no time to waste when he/she gets the opportunity to join this program, because the theory he/she got will be multiplied practically to produce a good mapper with different skills.
Aminata Bah, Sierra Leone: I would tell the individual to go for it because the internship is fruitful. The individual would have the chance to learn about a lot of things including tools and the environment used in mapping. More especially JOSM (Java OpenStreetMap Editor), which is an offline mapping tool.
Sheila Job Guilamba, Mozambique: It was the best experience I have ever had. Entering the program you leave with a lot of burden for the future. For those who would like to apply for the Everywhere She Maps Internship Match Program I can say that it will be the best experience for those who are starting now and who are looking for an area to work in, so if you have this opportunity do your best and involve yourself because you will love it a lot. See this opportunity as a seed for the future, where from the training you will surely have a seed that will sprout in such a way that after that you can produce your own fruits.
Zamzam Juma Hamad, Tanzania: They should join the internship match program because they will gain more knowledge and experience during the session and implement it to be skillful in different things in geospatial activities. For example, learn OSM features, how they could contribute through the HOT Tasking Manager to help the community decision-makers through the data available in OpenStreetMap. Also, she/he will gain new opportunities through different links in the Whatsapp group (for example, State of the Map link, FOSS4G conference ticket.)
Latifa Khamis Hemed, Tanzania: I would tell them the Everywhere She Maps Internship is a good internship because you will learn different software and tools that will make you strong in Geo Technology and it gives you opportunities.
What skills have you developed as a result of your internship?
Lidia Sandifolo, Malawi: The internship program has aided me to develop various skills in the field of GIS, including mapping skills and map production using QGIS. Not only that but also to know various new open-source tools, programs, as well as applications currently used in the field of mapping such as Organic Maps, Umap, ODK, Qfield, JOSM, iD editor, and Rovas. Furthermore, this program has empowered me with skills, knowledge, and competencies of using various platforms for communication which include Zoom, Eventbrite, E-mail, WhatsApp, and Facebook. To add on, this program has also modified my teamwork skills as well as leadership since we are always working in groups.
Gifthope Kimambo, Tanzania: I have gained skills like how to gain coins while mapping through Rovas, how to use JOSM in editing and validating maps, and mostly how to manage time when you have a lot to gain and practice.
Aminata Bah, Sierra Leone: I have developed a lot of skills in my internship, apart from mapping I have learned the essence of time and working together as a team. As the only Sierra Leonean in the internship, I gained the skill of working with different people from different countries without any doubt.
Sheila Job Guilamba, Mozambique: Working as a team, the importance of participating in meetings and talking there. Often mainly women, we are afraid to speak in public, for being afraid to be judged by or afraid to fail, but in this, there is something interesting when you start talking. This is to say that interaction is quite important in our formation as people and especially interaction with people who we don't know. Let's be more sassy always and we'll see that the result of this will be wonderful.
Zamzam Juma Hamad, Tanzania: To create a web map by using different open-source programs, for example,
Umap
Qfield
Rovas plugin, used to calculate the hours of mapping in JOSM
I have gained the skill of using Slack channel for sharing that I have validated in the HOT Tasking Manager and got some feedback through the slack channel. I also learned how to do surveys by using different tools like ODK and KOBO Toolbox.
Latifa Khamis Hemed, Tanzania: To interact with ODK and Kobo Collect, JOSM and iD Editor for mapping and validation. To create a web map by using Umap software.
Why do you feel the Everywhere She Maps Internship Match Program is especially helpful to young women interested in entering the geospatial industry?
Lidia Sandifolo, Malawi: Based on my experience I can recommend that the Everywhere She Maps Internship Match program is the cornerstone that empowers young women, who are interested in entering the geospatial industry.Because during this program we were exposed to different pieces of training that helped us better understand about the geospatial industry. Furthermore, this program facilitates internetworking that gives young women a chance to appreciate what other people are doing across the world and it gives room to improve and correct some weaknesses, since during this time we have wide opportunities to attend various conferences and training.
Some of the trainings I attended include State of the Map Africa, Power to Fly Drone, and all weekly trainings organized by Crowd2Map Tanzania. However, I did not manage to lead any sessions.
Zamzam Juma Hamad, Tanzania: Every woman deserves to map and get this opportunity in their hand to use it for career building and improve their ability as a GIS specialist.
Latifa Khamis Hemed, Tanzania: This internship includes daily activities surrounding us because we need data quality, but how to get it? Through the skills that I got in this internship, we can make it.
Please describe your favorite experience as a part of your internship.
Sheila Job Guilamba, Mozambique: First of all the question of being in a community that speaks only English was a unique experience, where I could discover some of my abilities in relation to better understanding the language. Initially, I was very shy I confess, as if it was something impossible to do, but the weekly meetings with Janet and Herry contributed a lot so that I gradually felt more comfortable. The other experience was being able to contribute to the mapping and validation of data from some parts of certain countries. It was challenging to understand how it works and at the same time good because I could see that the mapping was not just what I was doing here in Mozambique, but that was going a lot further than what I could have imagined before.
Zamzam Juma Hamad, Tanzania: Got the opportunity to attend the FOSS4G Conference through Youtube. They provided different topics, for example,
Introduction to gvSIG Desktop
Make Sense of Your Big Data with GeoWave
Publish your QGIS project (layers, forms, print layout...) on the internet using Lizmap to create a Web map application
GeoNetwork Orientation Workshop
Latifa Khamis Hemed, Tanzania: I got an opportunity to work with Open Skies Fellows Tanzania by developing a web map platform that will help the government and community to know flood zone areas in Zanzibar that include geospatial parts.
If your organization could benefit from a similar internship program or is interested in learning about other options for partnering with YouthMappers’ Everywhere She Maps program, check out this resource and contact Everywhere She Maps Program Director Courtney Clark at cclark@americangeo.org.
About the Interns:
Lidia Sandifolo
Major: BSc. Degree in Agriculture majoring in Soil Science
University level: Finished waiting for graduation
Institution and chapter name: Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and (LUANAR) Bunda Campus chapter
City and country of residence: Lilongwe, Malawi
Hobby/interest outside of mapping: Baking, Sports(netball), Mountain Hiking, Fashion and Designing
Gifthope Kimambo
Major: Bachelors in Environmental Science and Management
Institution and chapter name: Sokoine University of Agriculture and SMCoSE YouthMappers chapter
City and country of residence: Dar es salaam, Tanzania
Hobby/interest outside of mapping: Reading Books, Swimming, and games
Aminata Bah
Major: BSC Degree in Business Information and Technology (BIT).
University level: Final Year
Institution and chapter name: Canadian University of Modern Technology Mile 91 and CUMT OpenStreetMap chapter
City and country of residence: Mile 91, Sierra Leone
Hobby/interest outside of mapping: Reading, Coding, Research, Watching TV and Jogging
Sheilajob Guilamba
Major: Engineering of Programming of Informations System and Telecommunications
Institution and chapter name: Escola Superior de Ciencias Nautica and Comunidade YouthMappers Moçambique
City and country of residence: Maputo, Mozambique
Hobby/interest outside of mapping: Reading and Listening to Music
Zamzam Juma Hamad
Major: Bachelors Degree in Information Technology Application and Management
University level: Recently Graduated
Institution and chapter name: State University Of Zanzibar and SUZA YouthMappers
City and country of residence: Zanzibar, Tanzania
Hobby/interest outside of mapping: Graphic Design and searching for opportunities through social media
Latifa Khamis Hemed
Major: Information Technology Application and Management.
Institution and chapter name: The State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) and SUZA YouthMappers
City and country of residence: Zanzibar, Tanzania
Hobby/interest outside of mapping: Graphic Designer
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