UN WOMEN Jobs - 57785- Intern - Africa Section

Intern - Africa Section - Support to Programme Analysis on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the Africa Region

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Internship

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

30-Jul-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Intern

Duration of Initial Contract :

2 months

Languages Required :

English French

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

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.

The Programme Division (PD) sets the standards, assures the quality of program design, and provides guidance to country level program work of UN Women, as well as supports the coordination role of UN Women at regional and country level. It supports the effective use of results based management and reporting across the organization. It also manages global Trust funds, and Global Programs, and it provides technical capacity to countries on request, including a humanitarian response capacity.

The Programme Team makes possible the oversight function of the Programme Directorate for UN Women’s programmes and activities in the field. It supports corporate planning and the oversight of planning processes. It leads UN Women’s corporate analysis of developments and trends at the country and regional level, ensuring UN Women’s senior management receives timely advice and recommendations. It supports UN Women’s field based presences, specifically Regional Offices including on operational matters, and connects them appropriately to other parts of headquarters as required. The Programme Team’s members represent UN Women in interagency fora, and provide support to UN Women normative work in intergovernmental processes, as well as contributing to resource mobilization and partnership building more broadly at headquarters level.

Up-to-date, high quality situation analyses on the overall political and socio-economic context, gender equality and UN Women engagement and strategic partnerships at country and regional level are an essential tool for facilitation of the oversight and representational functions of the Programme Division. To this end, UN Women is seeking to engage highly motivated interns, whom, under the general supervision of the Programme Adviser for Africa, will support the Programme Team (Africa) to develop and maintain a set of key briefs and databases on countries, topics and partners relevant to UN Women work in Africa.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities:

Assist the Programme Team (Africa) in developing in-depth Master Briefs (country briefs) for a selection of priority African countries. These briefs include descriptions of areas including: the political situation, socio-economic situation, UN Women’s assistance and key programme & management issues, UN missions, etc. This also includes researching background data and information, gender related, economic and other type of data from major databases and data provider services, academic literature and official reports from national and multilateral sources on a range of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment issues, working papers, op-eds, and policy statements relevant to Africa;
Develop a substantive analysis related to an issue of high priority for UN Women and gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Africa region. This would entail analyzing the work of UN Women Regional, Country and Multi-country offices in a specific high priority area, the issues, lessons learned, challenges and way forward/recommendations;

Other supplementary responsibilities may include:

Support and coordinate with the Programme Specialist in writing briefs and preparing documents for the Programme Team (Africa) as required;
Assist the Programme Specialist in reorganising and maintaining the knowledge management platforms for the Programme Team (Africa);
Maintain and update the collection of bios of the main leadership of countries for a selection of countries to complement the briefs.

Competencies

Core Values / Guniding 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.

Competencies:

Writing skills:

Demonstrates strong writing skills, particularly the ability to present persuasive, coherent and well-founded arguments;
Has ability to write in style that is accessible to a broad audience of policymakers, academics and activists.

Work ethics:

Reliably takes action to honor commitments;
Takes international outlook in decision-making.

Intellectual Qualities:

Possesses good grasp of development policy issues;
Demonstrates analytical rigor, intellectual creativity and contributes original ideas;
Maintains open-minded attitude towards new ideas.

Results Orientation in Process:

Demonstrates drive to achieve results in timely manner and to seek and find solutions to any problems encountered;
Makes efficient use of available resources;
Demonstrates ability to multitask;

Communication skills:

Has ability to communicate clearly and persuasively;
Demonstrates ability to build consensus and expresses own ideas openly and frankly without jeopardising rapport with colleagues.

Innovation and marketing of new approaches:

Generates new ideas, seeks new approaches and introduces and promotes them in the workplace.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Undertaking a Masters in political science, economics, gender related studies, international development, public policy, or related areas.

Experience:

Prior research experience in public policy related issues, Africa-area studies, women’s rights or international affairs is preferred;
Professional work experience that combines research and practice in the above-mentioned areas is valued;
Ability to use relevant ICT tools to produce professional presentations and briefs;
Demonstrated interest in policy, human rights and women’s rights issues in Africa is preferred;
Strong communications skills are preferred.

Language:

Proven excellence in written and oral communications skills in English is required, oral and written French is highly desirable.

Requirements:

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;
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, resume and application.