Fiona breaking barriers

IN Papua New Guinea, engineering and construction management remain male-dominated professions.
But through an Asian Development Bank (ADB) supported project, one young woman is bucking this trend.
In 2015, Fiona Serum became the first female engineer to be hired under the Civil Aviation Development Investment Programme (Cadip), a US$480 million (about K1.68 billion) ADB-funded initiative to upgrade and rehabilitate the country’s airports.
She is a 30-year-old from Morobe and a mother of three children.
When Serum graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in 2014, she was unsure where she might find work.
Serum had known from a young age she wanted to be an engineer, but during her training she had learned that jobs could be scarce in this sector, and there were precious few female role models.

When she was hired as a project engineer with Cadip in 2015, she was proud that her study had landed her a job in the dynamic aviation development sector, and was committed to demonstrating that she belonged there.
“At first it was challenging, but I was determined to rise above the challenges and work hard to earn the respect of my colleagues,” she said.
“Respect is mutual, so once that is earned there is no gender when it comes to engineering.”
Serum’s role involves monitoring project status and issues – including through regular site visits – scheduled meetings and reporting, and daily interactions with contractors and key stakeholders.
“Initially, meeting with stakeholders was my biggest challenge, because I lacked confidence in public speaking.
“But now looking back, I’m proud to say I have overcome this challenge and I’ve learned a lot and gained great confidence from these meetings.”
Undertaken by the Government with ADB support, Cadip is the largest aviation investment in PNG.
Commencing in 2009, Cadip’s purpose is to redevelop and revitalise PNG’s heavily deteriorated aviation infrastructure to provide safety, security, and improved services for the travelling public.
Second and third iterations of the programme – through which ADB is providing another US$130 million (about K456mil) and US$248mil (about K870mil) – will see it create a sustainable civil aviation network that supports PNG’s growing needs.
Serum’s professional skills have grown through the seven major Cadip projects she has worked on, learning things that were not taught at university.
One of the most valuable lessons she has learnt is the importance of ongoing stakeholder engagement to prevent issues and minimise disruptions.
“The biggest lesson for me is learning how to manage the needs and expectations of the stakeholders using appropriate and best practices of stakeholder management,” she said.
“I was never taught in engineering school how to address social issues when faced with this kind of situation.
“I’ve come to realise that in civil engineering you build airports, roads, bridges through peoples’ land, gardens, and property, hence you have to have proper dialogue with people and provincial governments.”
Serum said she was pleased that her work and achievements with Cadip would benefit the next stage of her career.
“I am very privileged that, through Cadip, I’ve come to learn many valuable lessons and gain experience in this area.”