Name Fatouma Seid Age 39 Place of birth Djibouti, East Africa Languages Somali, French, English, Arabic, Italian

Job title
Operations Officer

"I work in the emergency operations division. We are helping people to farm and produce enough food in countries affected by disasters and conflict.

I’ve just got back from Liberia, in West Africa, where people have been trying to resume work on their land since the war ended. Once the peace treaty was signed in 2004, we sent an emergency team over to help distribute farming equipment, seeds and other supplies. Many people had been driven from their homes and they came back to nothing. After 16 years of war there was nothing growing and the land was overrun with pests.

We also tried to set up training for young men coming back from war who hadn’t been through any schooling – it’s much better they become farmers than a source of further conflict.

My role involves identifying qualified experts and organizing emergency relief teams to send to countries in crisis. I keep in constant touch by phone and e-mail to ensure the team has everything it needs. I deal with any problems. I also visit the countries. This is important because not only does it help me see where extra work is needed, it also provides me with some real perspective in seeing the everyday problems people have in trying to make a living.

Another important part of my job is raising the visibility of projects among government and donors. I talk to them in order to generate funding.

Right now I need to go and check with our procurement section, which basically deals with ordering supplies for countries. I’m trying to get several hundred metric tonnes of seeds sent to Côte d'Ivoire. Internal conflict has hampered farming and there is no government support. We must get these seeds out and planted on time.

Before joining FAO I worked for the UN World Food Programme. I spent time in Sudan and Burundi during conflicts, working on emergency projects, which gave me a good grounding in the problems faced by thousands of people in rural areas.

My work is satisfying in that I’m doing something concrete, but in countries where there are thousands upon thousands of families struggling to make a living, you can only do so much – you can help some people improve their livelihoods but you cannot reach everyone."