Bezaye Mengesha

What brought you to a career in technology at the United Nations?

When i first joined UN it was on a different area but though time and experience , I become an information managemnts assistant in Knowledge Service Section where i fully share my experience and knowledge happily.

What has been your favorite technology project or initiative at the United Nations and why? What was your contribution?

My favorite IT project was the Archive and records management project. The project ECA embarked on addressing the longstanding issues associated with poor management of records and archives since the establishment of the Commission through Archives and Records Management (ARM) project initiated to provide an institutional framework for managing administrative records throughout their life cycle (i.e., creation/capture, maintenance and use, disposition, and archiving). The aim of the project ensured was to: - * Establish and endorse an institutional framework including policies, guidelines, operational procedures, and a system that promotes proper creation, management, preservation, and disposal of ECA's administrative records in all formats. * Establish an archives and records management strategy for ECA's administrative records incorporating the capture of the past, current, and future records in print, electronic, and audio-visual formats. * Implement an integrated records management system that will capture, manage, dispose of and make accessibility of all ECA records in print and digital format. * And to consolidate the inter-divisional/sectional activities associated with records creation, management, and preservation into one common workflow. My contribution was implementing this programme in different sections and division across the commission by preparing file structures, installing the corporate records management software for users, giving training for staffs, managing the records in the system, leading different teams through out the implementation program which includes taking inventory, digitizing the active records, filling based on function for both electronic and hard copies, reviewing the retention schedule and work on the disposition of inactive records ,etc.

What advice would you give women interested in pursuing a field in technology?

To make themselves UpToDate with the given technology available.