Antecedentes

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.

UN Women’s regional representation for East and Southern Africa (ESA) is comprised of 12 Country Offices (COs)[1], one programme presence (Somalia), and support to 11 UN Country Teams (UNCTs)[2] where UN Women is a non-resident agency (NRA). All are coordinated and supported by the Regional Office (RO) in Kenya. ESA is a complex and diverse region comprised of sub-regions ranging from countries with weak governance prone to crises that cross borders, while other sub-regions represent middle-income countries that are relatively stable.

The women’s economic empowerment context in the East and Southern Africa region (ESAR) remains complex and dynamic underpinned by climate related factors, conflict/displacement/fragility, micro and macro level shocks such as the COVID 19 pandemic as well as the on-going conflict between Ukraine and Russia that has negatively affected basic commodity prices, agricultural inputs, and food systems in the region. These have and continue to disproportionately impact women and girls due to pre-existing structural gender inequalities before and during the crisis.

The main agenda of the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Programme is to strengthen women’s economic autonomy through increasing access to quality livelihood opportunities, and support women and girls in their innovations, social enterprises, and capacities to secure social, economic and environmental assets and knowledge. The key focus areas for 2023 are: (1) Climate Resilient Agriculture and ensuring a just transition to the blue and green economies; (2) The Care Economy; and (3) women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship development, decent work and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.

[1] UN Women Country Offices: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa (multi-country office including Botswana,  Lesotho, Namibia and Eswatini), South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

[2] NRA countries: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius/Seychelles, Namibia, and Zambia

UN Women ESARO seeks to hire an intern to support the WEE portfolio.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Duties and Resposibilities:

  • Support the Policy Specialist to review/conduct economic empowerment related research from a gender economics perspective;
  • Support the Policy Specialist in programme management and implementation;
  • Support the Policy Specialist in various communications tasks such as writing position papers, talking points, website articles, developing social media posts, etc;
  • Support the Policy Specialist on administrative tasks as required.

Learning goals include:

  • Enhanced knowledge on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;
  • Enhanced knowledge on gender and economics in development in Africa;
  • Enhance knowledge on the programmatic and operational aspects of working at UN Women.

Competencias

Core Values:

  • Respect for Diversity;
  • Integrity;
  • Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

  • Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
  • Accountability;
  • Creative Problem Solving;
  • Effective Communication;
  • Inclusive Collaboration;
  • Stakeholder Engagement;
  • Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and  Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Sections/About%20Us/Employment/UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

  • Demonstrable knowledge of feminist/gender economics;
  • Demonstrable Knowledge of development issues in Africa, preferably in East and Southern Africa;

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

  • University studies in one of the following disciplines: feminist/gender economics;
  • Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); or Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program which is part of a degree programme and undertake the internship as part of the program requirements;
  • a) Be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme (such as a master’s programme, or higher);
  • b) Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (such as bachelor’s degree or equivalent);
  • c) Have recently graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within two-years of graduation.

Language:

  • Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required;
  • Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.

Renumeration:

Interns who are not in receipt of financial support from other sources such as universities or other institutions will receive a stipend from UN Women to partially subsidize their basic living costs for the duration of the internship.

 

All applications must include (as an attachment) a completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/UN-Women-P11-Personal-History-Form-en.doc

Please note that the system will only allow one attachment and candidates are required to include in the P-11 form links for their previously published reports and articles completed within the last two years. Applications without the completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.