Ms. Bui Thi Lan talks about her childhood with pride, for although it was a very difficult time for her and her two younger brothers during the war, it helped shape her into the independent, strong, career person she is now. Her well-to-do parents were living in town and decided that it was safer for the children to live with their grandparents in the countryside. For seven years, they lived on a farm where life was very different.

It is the image of her hardworking grandmother that Lan remembers lovingly as the person who influenced her most in those early years. Her grandmother worked hard in the farm, went to the market every morning to trade produce, and with that small income, brought up her family and the three children. From early on she learned that women can do anything, can survive with very little; and that farming as a way of life is not only important for the family but for the nation as well.

After unification, the three children went back to the city to be with their parents and finished their education with very good grades. Lan went on to Halifax, Canada to do her masters and then spent a year in France and the Netherlands for postgraduate studies in Agricultural Trade and Public Administration. After graduating, she worked for the Ministry of Agriculture for 22 years; first as Programme Officer in Bilateral Cooperation with European countries, and later on to management positions in trade negotiations with ASEAN, APEC, WTO, the Americas and the Middle East, and finally as head of its technical section.

During this time, even though Lan was travelling a lot and working on foreign issues, she also became naturally involved in rural development and gender issues. Because she was female, many were surprised at the speed with which she rose to higher positions. She realised that after the war women’s lot had deteriorated. During the war women replaced the men and took over all the work. But after the war, instead of being acknowledged for their good works, they were pushed aside and those that kept their jobs were paid less than the men. She saw that in the farms women worked the same hours in the field as the men did, and then did the housework, looked after the livestock, the food processing, and the children. She saw how little recognition the women got.

Lan enjoyed her work and the responsibilities and the challenges. She had never worked for any UN organisations before; but on mission to represent the Ministry of Agriculture in Vietnam, Lan gave a talk at the FAO regional office in Bangkok. Out of the blue, the FAO head in Bangkok called her and asked her if she had her CV with her. She didn’t, so she wrote it on her way to the airport.

Three months later, FAO wanted to interview her for a possible position and she was asked to participate in a video conference. She was very busy at the time and didn’t think anymore about it, and her colleagues told her that she would only get a junior position and she had better opportunities at home. So, without preparation, she decided to participate in the interview mainly because she was curious about video conferencing.

She was unprepared to meet very senior official at the interview, but after a short time, their interview turned into a lively discussion on her professional work which she spoke about with conviction and sincerity. She felt happy about the interview but she was too satisfied with her present job to be upset if she were rejected.

"YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED", came the reply a week later, and she learnt that she had been chosen as FAO Representative in Bangladesh. Lan was going to be the first government employee from Vietnam to be given such a responsibility, and her colleagues encouraged her to accept so she could represent Vietnamese civil servants and Vietnamese women.

In the summer of 2001, Ms. Bui Thi Lan and her 17 year old son, Le Minh Anh, arrived in Dhaka for the first time. Her first impression was of so many people of which 80% were farmers and close to her heart. She felt the real need for FAO’s present commitment to the country’s poor people. She would like to focus on the rural areas and on the women: poor women who didn’t work in the fields because they were afraid of demeaning their husbands' ability to provide for their families; and the women who worked and were looked down upon and not protected. Lan would like to see women sharing the work inside and outside the house in a more active way in order to ensure household food security.

Since her arrival, Lan feels good about the fact that she has been accepted by everyone, and that her being a woman has not posed any problems at all.

As for her present goals, Lan would like to see more assistance and resources being mobilized by FAO headquarters. She would like her office to contribute more to the reduction of poverty and to raise the awareness of the Bangladeshi leadership to the impact of the accelerating globalisation process in the agricultural sector.

She expects that it will be difficult for the farmers to comply with some of the conditions being promoted by the World Trade Organization, but is confident that FAO can help Bangladesh in coping with and adapting to the WTO trade regime in agricultural products.

"My colleagues used to say", Lan said, " ‘Bangladesh is lucky to get Lan, she is so hard-working and serious’. But I think I am lucky to be chosen for Bangladesh; to see so many development issues and challenges and still feel capable of helping; and to be part of an organisation that gives me the opportunity to intermingle with different peoples and cultures".

Because of the demands of her work, Lan is drawn to nature. Her future dream is to someday have a piece of land in which to enjoy gardening.

Women have a lot of advantages, and in fact are sometimes more equal in the UN system than in government service or other fields. The UN system is very aware of gender issues and women enjoy better treatment from their male colleagues.

Women who want a career in the UN system should have their minds set seriously on development issues and should have a real feeling for poor and disadvantaged people. It helps to be creative in finding appropriate methods of helping in different cultural settings.