Junko Okamoto

I gave birth to my son when I was 40 years old. A year prior to that I spent most of my time abroad and after giving birth, I took 1.5 years off from work. Even after returning to work, I still prioritized my son and only worked for a short time for a while.

Even though I have never fully separated from work as I still went for a very short business trip during my childcare leave, practically, I felt as if I had a blank period of more than two years. Once I got back to work, I started looking for ways to advance my career from specialist to Project Manager, a position of leading, managing, and summarizing a project. So far, I had been working on projects that involved community participation, organization, and human resource development, but there was a need to find a theme that would enable me to participate through the whole project.

I was confused and worried not only because it took some time for me to get back to the rhythm of work as I used to have, but also because my time and energy was mostly used for taking care of my baby. Under such conditions, I found that the field of work that suited me best was that of governance.

The project I was involved in for 10 years before taking childcare leave was a waste management project in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. We built a new organization called the Waste Management Station in the city municipal government, with responsibility for controlling the discharge of residential waste to collecting, transporting, and disposal. As the project progressed, the city staff started to feel proud of their work and I witnessed how this project had exerted an unexpected power.

When I looked back on my past experience after I returned to work, I realized I wanted to make governance the main pillar of my work, based on my experience in Dhaka. However, since our company had no prior experience working in governance, it was difficult to get a project related to it.

Fortunately, we finally managed to get one in a preliminary survey in Cote d’Ivoire about strengthening local government, and now as a result, this gave us the chance to get more projects involving the local government. With two targeted fields: primary school and rural water supply (wells), the local governments in collaboration with relevant organizations and residents are aiming to provide high-quality public services. Although it is still new to us, I’d like to create a track record in this new field called Governance and develop it further.

In the future, I am not sure how I will do both childcare and work to succeed at the same time, because as a child grows, depending on the condition of my husband and parents, and my goal at work at the time, the environment and condition surrounding our lives also change. Compared to before giving birth, the amount of work has decreased. But the fact that I am blessed with a child will always make me happy and grateful form the bottom of my heart. With the help of others and through exploration, from now on I am determined to proceed forward.