Uranchimeg Badambazar (a.k.a. Orna) is the ICT Officer for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Mongolia. Based in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, Orna is responsible for all UNICEF ICT in the country.

“I started 10 years ago as an IT assistant,” says Orna. “And as the office grew, my responsibilities also grew. Now I’m ICT Officer and I’m running the ICT services for all our operations across Mongolia. It’s not only the network that I’m working with, but data and voice communications as well.”

During the recent interagency assessment mission with UNICEF and UN World Food Programme (WFP), Orna worked with John Bursa, WFP Regional IT Officer for Asia Pacific, to reprogramme the UNICEF radios to conform to the agreed inter-agency standards. “Orna proved an apt student,” says John. “Her ability to pick up on programming standards and callsign allocation was second to none.”

“I did my degree in ICT in DPRK and then did an internship there with WFP in 2000,” says Orna. “I then joined UNICEF right after my graduation from university.”

“I find the nature of the work itself very interesting because I always have the chance to learn and improve myself. There are always new guidelines, systems and rules which need to be implemented.”

“While the economy is growing in Mongolia, there has been little progress in the situation of women and children,” says Orna, “and disparities between urban, pre-urban and rural areas remains an issue. There is still a critical gap between conditions in the capital and the provinces - 42% of children in Mongolia live in poverty and 21% of children are chronically malnourished due to lack of accessibility and availability to services.”

“I really like the fact that through my work I can use my skills and training to support the situation of women and children in Mongolia.”