My road to the United Nations began in Benin, where I held various engineering posts in the private sector. I had always wanted to work in a humanitarian setting, so I joined the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2003 to turn my passion into a reality. Since then, I have served with the mission as a Water and Sanitation Engineer for seven years. I oversee the provision of safe drinking water for the mission’s population in accordance with World Health Organization quality standards.

While most days in the field vary, my daily tasks include supervising maintenance facilities for water and sanitation works on general water production systems, which comprise 51 water treatment plants, storage and distribution systems, and waste water disposal throughout the mission. I operate and maintain 10 water bottling plants which support the entire mission. These are professionally installed and easily relocated to other sites whenever required.

I have also introduced waste water management systems and inspected dumping sites to ensure adherence to our environmental policies and practices. I liaise regularly with our Environmental Unit, which focuses on an engineering specialization that is particularly interesting and very much on the rise today. I relocate, install and commission new equipment as required and raise all requisitions for required assets, consumables, spare parts and ensure that technical evaluations (TE) are done on time. I also train staff to manage the water and sanitation facilities. This is the part of the job that I love the most: capacity-building. It is rewarding to empower our national staff to acquire new skills on the ground so that they can better serve their country.

When I first joined the Organization, I was the only female engineer at my level among six others in my team. It is great to see that this picture is changing. Suitably experienced and qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply for posts, especially in the mid-professional level in my field. Despite the constraints we face on the ground, there has always been a peaceful coexistence among my colleagues who complement each other to achieve strategic goals and support the mission to help the Congolese people improve peace and security.