Read about Commander Ayu Chandra
Commander Ayu Chandra
Senior Staff Officer CIMIC Liaison
J9 Branch, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
What brought you to a career in technology at the United Nations?
As a soldier, joining as military peacekeeping mission is an honor and a dream for many soldiers. And I want to contribute, do and be useful for the wider community and be part of the world to maintain world peace. However, as a female soldier with a family, obstacles do not only come from male soldiers but also female soldiers who assume that female soldiers with families are not allowed to follow assignments as peacekeepers. Therefore, I also want to show to many male and female soldiers in my country that even though we are female soldiers with families, we can carry out our assignments well, maintain our honor as part of the world peacekeeping army and maintain good communication and family relationships.
What has been your favorite technology project or initiative at the United Nations and why? What was your contribution?
My favorite project is updating the conditions on the ground regularly by entering geographical, economic, social, cultural, agricultural or natural resource data, the number of adults, children, and elderly, and public facilities in the area. This is to find out how high the level of community welfare is in the area.
My contribution is to always evaluate and monitor which areas have been updated and which have not been updated in the last 6 months to 1 year. And remind colleagues to continue entering and updating data. Especially since the war in Lebanon, the situation on the ground has changed a lot due to the many public facilities and the great damage caused by the war.
What advice would you give women interested in pursuing a field in technology?
Learning technology and acquiring digital skills are essential because both continue to evolve over time. These skills make it easier to perform tasks, manage vast amounts of data, and transform information into analytical material that provides insights into the field situation. This analysis can then be used to make quick and accurate decisions.
