Women in Tech: Advancing Technology at the Special Criminal Court with Bucella Gwladys
The Women in Tech series puts the spotlight on women who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital innovations across UNDP. By sharing these inspiring individual stories, we hope to encourage others to choose this path and spur gender equality in the digital sector.
Along with a team of 22 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) colleagues, Bucella Gwladys Ogalama-Oyapima is part of a UNDP support project to the Special Criminal Court (SCC) in the Central African Republic (CAR). As an ICT Analyst, she oversees the court’s digital operations, taking care of tasks ranging from the efficient operation of the court’s computer software and hardware to the management and maintenance of its IT infrastructure.
The Special Criminal Court, established in 2015 to help CAR restore and strengthen its judicial and legal systems, has a mandate to investigate and prosecute serious violations of human rights and international criminal and humanitarian law in the country. As an integrator between national authorities, UN entities and civil society, UNDP supports PSC operations in collaboration with the UN peacekeeping mission and the Government of the Central African Republic.
Although there are two of them in the court’s information management unit, Bucella Gwladys juggles multiple responsibilities. When she is not supporting the Court, she is supporting her colleagues in the Central Police Station.
“It’s a race every day, I’m between the court, the police station and the UNDP office. I also support the lawyers who defend the accused. It’s a never-ending job,” she says.
Having spent several years working in the IT field, this is her first experience in the legal field. It recognizes the central role of digital technologies in streamlining judicial proceedings.
“Given the current state of our court, digitization is essential if we are to be able to process cases quickly and efficiently. Currently, the processing of court cases is done manually, if users could enter information digitally, we would save a lot of time.
Holder of a Master’s degree in Networks and Telecommunications from the African Institute of Administration and Business Studies (IAEC) in Togo, Bucella Gwladys has a keen interest in VSAT technology and a recently discovered interest in the digitalization of services through her professional experience at the Court. Prior to joining UNDP, Bucella Gwladys held several IT positions for the international non-governmental organization Danish Refugee Council (DRC), but she always wanted to join the UN system.
“I started applying for jobs at UNDP, UNICEF and WFP. Despite several applications, it wasn’t until 2022 that I was contacted and finally recruited for this position, which I initially applied for in 2018! When I have a goal in mind, I don’t get discouraged. I fight, I hang in there and I try to stay optimistic.”
Early in her career, Bucella Gwladys faced skepticism about her abilities to work in the digital field as a woman, but she always persisted.
“I have been confronted with people who thought that a woman responsible for digital operations was not a good idea. In their eyes, I was not up to the task. I would like to want to encourage women who want to pursue a career in the digital field not to hesitate, you should believe in yourself. But you must be continually open to learning new things and working. Especially for us francophones, we must learn English because a lot of IT documents are in English,” she shared.
Looking ahead, Bucella Gwladys is looking to stay on in the organization as an IT Specialist or going abroad. She is also keen to do research and would like to doctorate one day.
