Background

Development of a modern and inclusive system of social protection is an important reform for rapidly changing Middle-Income Countries (MIC) like Viet Nam. Social protection promotes equity by increasing the number of households that ascend from poverty and reducing descents into poverty. It also stimulates productivity growth by reducing risks associated with movement between income earning activities and helping households accumulate human capital. Publicly funded social assistance is a vital part of this agenda.

While the Master-plan for Social Assistance Reform and Development (MPSARD) has provided strategic direction, implementation delays meant that gaps in coverage were still present during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the result, the current social assistance programs based on residence registration and with low levels of cash benefits hindered efforts to deliver help quickly to households and individuals, especially migrants and other workers in the informal sector, to protect their livelihoods from the impact of the. In response, the Government offered short-term (3 months, April, May and June 2020) cash support to vulnerable groups that were affected by the pandemic. In addition to target groups included in regular cash transfer programs (under Decree 136) and poor households, the new social protection (SP) package targeted the “missing middle” including: (i) near-poor households, (ii) workers with temporarily suspended labour contracts; (ii) workers with terminated labour contracts but not eligible for unemployment insurance benefits; (iii) workers without labour contracts and social insurance and (vi) household businesses with annual revenues of less than 100 million VND that had suspended business as the result of COVID-19.

With UNDP supports to MOLISA in 2020, a breakthrough in the digital transformation of the Government’s cash transfer program management and policy advising on COVID-19 response. This includes:

o     Policy advice and technical consultancy on the formulation, implementation and extension of the Government’s US$2.6 billion social assistance program providing cash transfers to over 14 million of the most vulnerable people and workers affected by the COVID-19, providing them with cash and essential goods to supplement their lost income caused by COVID-19 and sustain their livelihood and businesses, and thus preventing them from falling into poverty;

o     Prime Minister’s decision (No. 32) to reform the country’s social protection system towards a more comprehensive and shock-responsive response through evidence produced by the rapid assessment of the UNJP on vulnerable people and households and the national workshops on social assistance reform on the revision of the Decree No. 136 on social assistance policy and accelerating digitalization;

o     Digital transformation of social assistance transfers was triggered building on the piloting of a digital cash transfer program successfully conducted in partnership with the business sector (Vietnam Post) and local governments/mass organizations/Women’s Union helped the government for the first time, thanks to UNJP support (i) to adopt a digital reporting system in the entire ministry’s structure; (ii) to draft a digital system for social assistance beneficiary self-registration, verification and management under the revised Decree No. 136 on social assistance policy; (iii) to make the digital payment as a new and important method of cash transfer, laying the crucial foundation for digitalization transformation of the social assistance system to reach the beneficiaries faster, more transparently on a large scale, thereby building an integrated data base of social protection system.

In order to scale up the achievements of 2020 supports, UNDP in supporting MOLISA through the project on improvement of social assistance system in Viet Nam (2017-2021), is seeking for an intern for communication for promoting digital transformation of social assistance/protection system.  

Duties and Responsibilities

Overall objective: The intern will assist UNDP in promoting digital transformation of social assistance/protection and poverty reduction management and delivery in Viet Nam.

Concrete objectives of the internship include:

• Review existing related documents/reports/data to draft articles, press releases for mass media, as well as posts on social media;
• Assist UNDP and MOLISA in promoting social media presence of UNDP’s work on digital transformation of social assistance/protection and poverty reduction in Viet Nam;
• Assist the partners in development and implementation of communication plan to promote lessons learnt, successful stories on digital transformation of social assistance/protection and poverty reduction models in Viet Nam;
• Assist the partners in editing and preparing documents for publication and distribution;
• Other necessary tasks to support communication about digital transformation of social assistance/protection and poverty reduction management and delivery in Viet Nam

The intern will work under the overall supervision of UNDP Viet Nam Assistant Resident Representative/Head of Inclusive Growth Unit as well as the management and technical guidance of UNDP Programme Analyst (Social Protection and Poverty Reduction) and  Communication Analyst.

Monitoring and Progress Control will be conducted against the above tasks, deliverables and timelines as indicated.

Competencies

The intern is registered undergraduate students at communication related schools, universities who have completed at least two years of their degree program. First and second year students will not be considered.

UNDP imposes no restrictions on the interns’ academic fields of study, but preference will be given to prospective interns who have shown an interest in international development, public policy, international affairs, human development (health, education and training), and business and management. These interests may be reflected in the applicants’ coursework or in extra-curricular activities such as internships and employment.

Required Skills and Experience

Intern must demonstrate a high level of fluency in Vietnamese and English. Fluency in other languages is an advantage.

Facility with word processing, spreadsheet, email and other communication applications is required. Experience using data analysis/ design software and managing social media pages is an advantage.