The latest event in FIDIC’s 2024 webinar series took place on 25 June 2024 and highlighted some of the successful and impactful initiatives being undertaken by FIDIC’s global member associations and how they are making a positive difference to member companies in their regions and the wider industry.
The webinar, How a collective industry voice makes change happen, was organised by FIDIC’s directors’ and secretaries’ advisory council, supported by the FIDIC membership committee, and profiled some of the best practice success stories of FIDIC member associations and how these have benefited consulting engineering firms and the industry in their countries.
Introducing the event on behalf of the FIDIC board, Alfredo Ingletti, chairman and technical director of Italian consultancy firm 3TI PROGETTI and one of FIDIC’s vice presidents, said: “FIDIC around 100 global member associations (MAs) that are involved in a wide range of activities in their geographical regions which bring the industry together around common issues and to address key challenges. Our MAs do brilliant work across the world on behalf of their member firms, representing the industry to governments, funders and other important stakeholders and assisting their members by seeking to influence the business environment in which they operate.”
The webinar, chaired by Helen Davidson, CEO of ACE New Zealand and chair of FIDIC’s directors’ and secretaries’ advisory council, included a number of best practice success stories and initiatives from FIDIC member associations from Australia, Kenya and Germany that highlighted how they have benefited their member firms and the industry. Speakers at the webinar were Sascha Steuer, director of the Verband Beratender Ingenieure (VBI), FIDIC’s member association in Germany, Jonathan Cartledge, CEO of Consult Australia and Jane Mutulili, chair of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Kenya.
Opening the webinar, Helen Davidson, CEO of ACE New Zealand and chair of FIDIC’s directors’ and secretaries’ advisory council, said that FIDIC’s member associations were playing a key role on a global basis in representing and supporting the industry. “The more we can learn from one another the better and the more we can grow our collective capabilities,” she said. All the speakers at the event highlighted the “power of connection” through collaborative work on key issues.
Sascha Steuer, director of the Verband Beratender Ingenieure (VBI), FIDIC’s member association in Germany, spoke about VBI’s image campaign, “The Imagineers” which aimed to raise the profile of consulting and planning engineers (and architects) and the need to recruit more people into it. “Working with a leading communications agency, the VBI campaign developed a tangible expression, a label and a coined word that unmistakably captures what our sector does – that word was Imagineers,” Steuer said.
The campaign “The Imagineers” will be focusing on recruiting young professionals for consulting engineers and architects and will develop further in terms of content, visuals, and target group approach. The campaign will highlight the advantages of working in planning offices and aim to portray a younger looking industry. “Our goal is to inspire Gen Z to start a career in planning offices by increasing the understanding that engineers are needed to tackle challenging topics such as the energy transition, transportation transition and housing construction.
Steuer said that in Germany, approximately 385,000 students receive their Abitur (equivalent to high school diploma) annually and the goal of the campaign was to visit schools as part of career days and engage directly with the students there with the aim of reaching every tenth student with a positive message about why they should consider a career in the consultancy and engineering sector.
Jonathan Cartledge, CEO of Consult Australia, highlighted the collaborate advocacy work of his association and particularly its work as part of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (asbec). Asbec has built a superpower for advocacy built on a 20-year strong established membership of sustainability leaders in the built environment, plus a broader network of collaborative partners, leveraging its collective voice to advocate for sustainable, productive and resilient buildings, communities and cities. Cartledge explained how Consult Australia prioritises its advocacy activity for the most impact for member businesses. “We create an impetus for government to listen to what we as an industry are saying and the best way to do this is working in collaboration with other organisations that share similar aims,” he said.
Jane Mutulili, chair of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Kenya, spoke about how ACEK had assisted with the response to recent flooding in Kenya and how they had worked with the government on the remediation of damaged infrastructure. “We are working with the government by assisting them with what needs to be done following the flooding. Our members have proposed to offer their initial services in Nairobi for free and then generate an informative assessment of the current situation and then going forward develop a flooding map to inform the future work that will be needed,” she said.
All the campaigns and initiatives highlighted in the webinar portrayed FIDIC member associations in a beneficial light which was well received by members and the wider industry and widened their MA’s influence. It was clear that working together with other organisations with the same or similar interests was key in building pan-industry support for issues and campaigns which is much stronger in a collective sense than by individual campaigning on disparate issues.
The next webinar in FIDIC’s 2024 series of events takes place on Tuesday 15 October 2024, Building more diverse and inclusive companies. Diversity best practice for attracting, retaining and promoting people, will look at how best to build diverse and inclusive companies in the engineering, construction and infrastructure sector.
Watch the full webinar recording on the link below.
