Working with a common sense of purpose

"I was 18 when I first entered our old headquarters building in downtown Sarajevo, the war had just ended, and I had been offered a job as an assistant and interpreter in the Election Appeals Sub-Commission (EASC), the judicial body established by the OSCE Provisional Election Commission to adjudicate electoral complaints.

I travelled extensively with one of the EASC international investigators throughout the country to look into election-related complaints from political parties, independent candidates and regular citizens. Security was still fragile, the Inter-Entity Boundary Line very much present, both physically and psychologically. I remember vividly the adrenaline rush I felt every time we worked on a sensitive case.

Particularly busy were the periods preceding and immediately following the elections.

My colleagues and I worked long hours, often pulling all nighters, working weekends and holidays, no questions asked. We all felt - and I don’t mean just the colleagues working on the elections but the entire Mission - that we were doing something valuable, something that would instigate much needed change and have a significant impact on our future lives. And we were right.

Today, almost 15 years later, I am still with the OSCE. Circumstances have changed, people have changed and goals have changed. Yet I want to believe that the spirit and the sense of purpose that were there in those early years are still present and pushing us towards new achievements. We owe it to ourselves to aim at nothing less.”

Maja Soldo, currently working in Fund Administration at the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article first appeared in issue 4/2010  of the OSCE Magazine.