Background

UN Women Background:*

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.

Unit/ Project Background:

The programme area in Mexico develops projects and strategic activities in four key areas: i) enhancing women’s participation and leadership; ii) promoting women’s economic empowerment; iii) ending violence against women, and; iv) improving gender-sensitive planning, budgeting and statistics. Programme strategies include knowledge production and capacity strengthening, in alliance with governmental, civil society and academic actors as well as international organizations to improve public policies for women’s human rights and gender equality.

UN Women works in support of women’s leadership and political participation with a focus on achieving parity in decision-making. Main activities include accompanying public policies to strengthen women’s leadership and monitoring of progress, and disseminating information on the state of the art in this topic, as well as advocacy and policy dialogue around gender parity at national and state levels. Efforts in this area also concern improving the access of federal electoral institutions to key knowledge and tools to guarantee due implementation of gender quotas or gender parity dispositions as established in the federal and state legal frameworks. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities & Learning Objectives:

• Under the guidance of the Programme Team, follow-up, organize  and assist logistically in meetings/events and activities related to  Programme area for the Mexico´s project portfolio;
• Under the guidance of the Programme Team, support assistance and follow-up to administrative processes based on Programme and Operations Manual (POM);
• Contribute in the review of knowledge products and elaboration of notes, presentations, talking points, fact sheets, guides in Spanish and English;
• With the guidance and support of the Programme Team, draft technical documents (notes, presentations, talking points, fact sheets, guides) related with the UN Women strategic plan;
• With the guidance and support of the Programme Specialist, develop a technical document on political participation, as a main product of the internship;
• Assistance and follow up to file important documents under United Nations Filing System.

Learning Objectives:

1. Increased understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system
2. Learning different aspects of Programme coordination and in an international environment
3. Increased knowledge in women’s rights and gender equality, especially regarding women’s participation and leadership
4. Work as a team member in a multicultural setting

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:*

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
• Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

• Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards other.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision-making.

Functional Competencies:

Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required;

• Strong academic background in gender, social science, public policies, women migration, foreign affairs or other related.
• Congruence with United Nations values.
• Ability to think and work logically and work precisely with attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to work harmoniously with staff members of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• The intern must have studies in social science, public policies, human rights, foreign affairs or other similar subject at the university level.
• Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor's level or equivalent); Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Spanish.
• Working knowledge of another UN language a distinct advantage.

Interns are not financially remunerated by UN Women.

Application Information:

• Send application to leo.leberre@unwomen.org   with the subject: Professional Practice “Programme Management Support” together with CV and a one-page letter stating the reasons for applying to this position. 
• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest. 

UN Women Internship Policy:

Applicants to the United Nations internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

• (a)    Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
• (b)    Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);
• (c)    Have graduated with a university degree (as (b) above) and, if selected, must commence the internship within one year.

• UN Women internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship.
• All the expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring Government or institution;
• UN Women accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;
• The intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;
• Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to, any post in UN Women during the period of the internship or for six months immediately following the expiration date of internship;
• The intern must provide proof of enrollment in a health insurance plan, proof of school enrollment, a scanned copy of his/her passport, two letters of recommendation, and application.