UN WOMEN Jobs - 51735- Intern (Ending Violence Against Women / EVAW) (x2

Intern (Ending Violence Against Women / EVAW) (x2 : 1 international and 1 local national)

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Suva, FIJI

Type of Contract :

Internship

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

11-Dec-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Intern

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The United Nations General Assembly created UN Women: the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in July 2010, as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates of parts of the UN system working on all aspects of gender equality and empowerment of women (GE/EW). UN Women supports the achievement of UN System-wide goals on gender equality and the empowerment of women (GE/EW). UN Women has a presence and is programming in six Pacific Island Countries.

UN Women’s vision is a world where societies are free of gender-based discrimination, where women and men have equal opportunities, where the comprehensive development of women and girls is ensured so that they can continue to be active agents of change, where gender equality and women’s empowerment are achieved and where women’s rights are upheld in all efforts to further development, human rights, peace and security.

UN Women’s mandate builds on inter-governmental agreements articulated in the Beijing Platform for Action (PFA), the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Millennium Declaration, and relevant Security Council resolutions. Central to UN Women leads coordination of the UN system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into concrete action at the country level.

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Secretary General’s UNiTE Campaign to end VAW and Girls in the Pacific

Violence against women (VAW) and girls is one of the most systematic, widespread human rights violations in the world. The first ever national representative VAW surveys in the Pacific have revealed staggering rates of VAW in the Pacific. The countries which have undertaken the studies are Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. The studies are currently being conducted in Nauru, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands and Republic of Marshall Islands. Through these Family Health and Safety Studies, as they are called, there is now high-quality, comprehensive and global comparable data on VAW and strong and alarming evidence of the high prevalence and severity of violence committed against women by their intimate partners and others.

UN agencies share the mandate of advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women. Following the UN Secretary General’s study on VAW, The United Nations’ Country Teams, made up of heads of UN agencies present in the country, are urged to collaborate on joint programmes to end VAW. The Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign to End violence Against Women calls on the entire UN system, in partnership with governments, civil society, women’s organizations, the private sector, the media, and young people, to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of VAW. The UNiTE campaign overall global aim is to raise public awareness and to increase political will and resources towards the elimination of violence against women and girls in all parts of the world. There are five global outcomes areas related to: (i) national legislation, (ii) national plans of action on EVAW, (iii) data collection and analysis systems, (iv) public awareness and prevention, and (v) addressing systematic violence as a tactic of war.

Pacific UNiTE Campaign to end VAW

In 2012, UN agencies developed a Pacific UNiTE Campaign annual workplan based on the activities in the Pacific UNiTE Joint Programme document. Nearly every UN agency committed to aligning their programmes with the Pacific UNiTE Campaign, providing support to awareness raising activities, or allocating funding to specific Pacific UNiTE initiatives. Additionally, every Head of Agency from the UN in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa committed to ending violence against women and girls by signing a commitment poster, which has been reproduced and will be shared with UN agencies and key partners in the Pacific. UN Women is mobilizing partners and grantee organizations of the Pacific Fund to End VAW to utilize the online social media resources to share actions to End VAW in the Pacific.

UN Women, as the designated global lead agency for the SG’s UNiTE Campaign, and as Chair of the UN inter-agency Gender Group in the Pacific, coordinates inter-agency activities for the Pacific UNiTE Campaign. Therefore, the UN Women Fiji Multi Country Office is seeking an intern(s) to assist in providing support and mobilizing advocacy and activities around Ending Violence against Women and activities of the Pacific UNiTE Campaign.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the EVAW Programme Specialist, and specifically the Intern is expected to undertake the following tasks:

Assist in the development and coordination of Pacific UNiTE Campaign materials for raising awareness and strengthening advocacy for the elimination of VAWG;
Research technical assistance requests for the UN Joint Programmes on ending violence against women in Solomon Islands and Kiribati, as necessary;
Support UNiTE Youth Forum Pacific participants, grantees of the Pacific Fund, and partners to tell their stories about actions to prevent and address VAW on the SayNO- UNITE platform;
Support the Pacific Regional Facility Fund to End VAW in communicating results of activities;
Support EVAW programme with research and analysis related to specific thematic areas;
Draft communications pieces related to the Ending VAW portfolio;
Coordinate and document UNiTE related activities and increase visibility of Say No-UNiTE related work;
Draft stories and news items for UN Women’s social media, collecting photos and videos;
Support events developed under the framework of UNiTE;
Assist in the coordination of a regular UNiTE sub-group to plan and implement activities under UNiTE;
Programme and administrative support as requested.

Duration and Location:

The interns are expected to start immediately for a period of SIX (6) months. The interns are expected to work at UN Women Fiji MCO on a full-time basis.

Important Details:

Successful applicants must show proof of health and life insurance for the period they are working with UN Women;
Interns must be enrolled in an academic programme throughout the internship period.

Learning Elements:

Increased understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;
Learning different aspects of women’s political participation and access to justice;
Increased knowledge of issues related to women’s leadership, political participation and access to justice;
Working as a team member in a multicultural setting.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women ;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

Functional Competencies:

Strong organizational and research skills;
Keen interest in inclusive participation issues and gender equality;
Excellent communication skills- including written and oral, interpersonal and liaison skills;
Resourceful, ability to problem solve on complex issues;
Ability to work independently and as part of a team when the task requires;
Keen interest in the work of the UN, and of UN Women in particular, and have a personal commitment to UNW's goals and objectives and to the ideals of the UN Charter;
Have ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); or
Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor's level or equivalent) or Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected;
Must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation;
Social Work, Humanities, Health, Law or a related field.

Experience:

Demonstrated familiarity with the issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment;
Demonstrated familiarity with issues of violence against women.

Language Requirements:

Strong written and oral communication skills in English;
Knowledge of another UN working language is an advantage;
Knowledge of one or more of the language of the countries in the Region an asset.