Our team assistants?are the foundation of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), providing the structure and reliability that enable the entire organization to thrive.?
Today, we meet Olivera Poillucci?of OCHA New York.
Tell us about your career.
I started with OCHA?in?2010, but I¡¯ve been with the?Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ for over 20 years.
My career began in what was then called?PMSS, where I worked administering?DPKO Field Missions, including Sudan and the early days of the?Darfur crisis.
From there, I moved to the?DPKO Executive Office and eventually to?OCHA HR.
I¡¯ve always worked in?human resources, though my Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ career path wasn¡¯t planned ¡ª it just evolved over time.
Before joining the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, I worked in the?private sector?after earning a degree in?education and psychology. My passion was always helping and working with people, so, for me, getting a position with OCHA was a dream come true.
OCHA was so different at the time! Things were a bit unstructured¡ªlike the Wild West.
As the Executive Office, our collective job was to help standardize its internal processes, including templates and communication with staff, which significantly improved our operations.
How do you reconcile work and family?
It can be hard, but for me, it was truly challenging during the pandemic.
My daughter Emma, now 10, was diagnosed with an?autoimmune disease. This, on top of managing online schooling, made things hard. I got sick myself, a combination of the virus and stress, which took a toll.
Now, we were going through a difficult phase, with funding shortages, contracts coming to an end at the most difficult time, and so many colleagues to help.
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 might bring significant changes for administration teams. How do you feel about it?
With the upcoming Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 review, significant changes appear imminent, particularly in human resources and our broader admin work.
There¡¯s growing discussion around decentralizing these functions, which raises serious concerns about potential job losses, especially for General Service staff like me.
After 20 years of dedicated service, the prospect of losing my job without qualifying yet for a pension is deeply unsettling.
But this goes beyond job security. My concern with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 is that the system is rushing into structural changes without a clear understanding of how they will actually translate into better impact for the people we serve.
The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ must evolve, that is for sure, but meaningful reform requires both adequate resources and the full backing of Member States. Without that, we risk repeating the same mistakes of the past.
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