13 August 2008

N'Djamena, Chad: 'Movcon' means movement control, and in a nutshell it comes down to the following. Any time cargo or people have to move from one location to another, by using a UN aircraft (over long distances) or vehicle, we provide the service through a thorough analysis of the available and most cost-effective transportation assets. Based upon our conclusions, the Transport Section (road movements) or Air Operations are then tasked to execute the operation which we coordinate.

Myself and five other colleagues at the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) are focused on passenger movements: the booking, the routing, the checking and the boarding of passengers.

My job consists of logging in a database (the MOP Log) all passengers that have sent us their MOPs (Movements of Personnel), with a 48 hour deadline before the trip. The figures must be ready by noon (12.00 hrs) the day before the flight in order to give Air Operations staff members time to elaborate the daily flight schedule.

We prepare the manifest according to the MOP Log a day before, because the regular flight takes off at around 08.00 hrs in the morning. We also have to send the manifest to all passengers and section chiefs in order to inform them about all they need to know about the following days flights. So, before I go back home, I make sure that everything is ready for the following day's aircraft movements in and out our mission's area of responsibility (AOR).

Some people send their MOPs very late… and that is what happens most of the time, which doesn’t help us a lot in our very tight schedule. Some others send their MOPs many days or even weeks prior to their travel date, so I really have to keep the MOP log up-to-date one or two months in advance.

It also helps us in many ways to have at least a provisional forecast or, in the short term, the exact figures of the numbers of passengers we will have each day and for the whole month, and finally to prepare the daily and the monthly activity reports.

My tasks also include an easing of the administrative workload of my colleagues in the other Movcon sections by providing accurate statistics. I also have to consider the users, in fact all our colleagues at the mission and at times neighbouring missions or other UN agencies, by providing information to all who need or wish to be informed about the MINURCAT flight schedules or the booking procedures.

In my home country, I was working with MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Democratic republic of Congo) first as a passenger check-in clerk for a UN contracted company, then as a MONUC Airport Security Assistant. It was almost the same work as what I am doing in MINURCAT.

The difference is, while security at the airport is worried about what the passenger is carrying on him and what is stacked inside the cargo (potential weapons, commercial items, dangerous goods etc…), Movcon is concerned about the number of passengers and what is allowed as cargo; volume and weight; and whether flights will have to be segregated between passengers only or cargo only, taking into account the transportation of dangerous goods and other such technical considerations.

This is my first mission as a UNV volunteer and I’ve been in Chad since mid-June 2008. My first impression was positive. I know there is definitely something we can do for this population and it’s my job to find out what to do just to make this experience great and memorable for me and the people around me.

So when an all staff call came out, I promptly registered myself on the voluntary blood donation list. It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to do it for the very first time, being a first time UNV volunteer in CHAD. In my mind this was my most direct contribution to Chad and the Chadian people.

I do believe there will be more opportunities to help effectively in many different ways and I know that, at the same time, my being here will bring my working experience to an international dimension that will also enrich and bring a lot to my personal everyday life, a thing I would have missed if I stayed in my home country.