We hope you staying well amidst this challenging time. At UNDP, all staff are telecommuting from home following the Government’s declaration on the state of emergency.

We asked how colleagues are doing and here’s Elsie’s reflections.

"Working from home during the lockdown period was challenging for me. At first, it seems responsibilities at home were getting my attention away from work. However, I soon learned to adapt to the new approach. I wake up in the morning and get ready before 8am. After email checks, I join the daily UNDP online meeting at 9am and work till 12pm. I take a one-hour lunch break then it’s back to work till 5pm. I found that the timing is flexible and I can get straight back to doing additional hours on reading materials, online trainings and other tasks that I could not do in the office.  

It's quite distracting trying to meet family expectations. Sometimes I get bored starring at the computer all day. So, I try to balance my time with work and leisure activities. The internet accessibility is a challenge; however, I was able to manage my use of data for work purposes.

I work with a great team of people at UNDP in Papua New Guinea who are committed and talented. The country office is very supportive in providing the tools and resources needed for staff to work remotely from the house. Using online technology to work remotely is a new approach for me and probably marks the beginning of moving into digital transformation. Our IT staff have worked tirelessly providing the guidelines along with the procurement, the finance team and my project colleagues who are always responsive to calls, emails and other online applications whenever I need them. I thanked everyone for their support and adaption to the new work approach.

I hope the lockdown will end soon where things will be back to normal. I miss the office setting and I am looking forward to going back to the office.”

Elsie Simeon - GEF6 Project Associate.

Find out how UNDP is supporting the Government's response to contain the impact of COVID-19.