Across the Central African Republic, 34 UN Volunteers worked side by side with national counterparts to support elections in all 20 prefectures, including remote areas facing significant logistical challenges. The volunteers supported logistics, ran civic education efforts, and supported electoral operations, making sure ballots arrived, voters were informed, and polling could take place on time.

We had all answered the call to serve in the historic United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), a political mission, established by the UN Security Council on June 11, 1999. Our task: to help organize and conduct a UN-sponsored referendum in which the Timorese people would vote on whether to remain under Indonesian autonomy or pursue full independence. 

Angeline Kidiga is a 39-year-old woman from Kenya. She is a UN Volunteer Electoral Officer and joined MINUSCA in 2022 to support electoral operations. Angeline has overseen the distribution of electoral materials to some of the most remote areas in the country—Ouham Fafa and Nana Gribizi, which are affected by a lack of infrastructure and security.