Background

The Pacific Financial Inclusion Program (PFIP) is a Pacific-wide programme helping low-income households gain access to quality and affordable financial services and financial education. PFIP’s target is to increase the number of Pacific islanders who have on-going access to appropriate financial services and financial education by one million by 2019. To achieve this target PFIP focuses on three main programmatic areas:

  • Financial Innovation;
  • Policy and Regulation;
  • Consumer Empowerment.

Insurance sector innovation plays a vital role in deepening insurance penetration and building levels of resiliency. Insurers in South Pacific countries provide a range of conventional insurance products that cater for businesses, individuals, non-government organisations and government sectors.? However, some products are limited or are lacking.

PFIP will be setting up an Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab to help research, design and prototype insurance products, services and schemes that can help get more people insured, especially the low-income and vulnerable sections. ?Segments of the population that will be researched will include owners of small businesses, farmers, teachers, students, villagers etc. Type of insurance covers that will be investigated for analyzing market potential will include funeral expenses, natural events like cyclones, business, microinsurance, crop and livestock.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Intern will support the PFIP team in planning research studies and in dealing with logistical arrangements and data collection exercise. The work will include:

  • Liaising with stakeholders, brief and arrange visits and focus groups etc. The list of stakeholders to meet & interview will be guided by the Regional Inclusive Insurance Specialist & the respective country technical specialists;
  • Carrying out field work to collect information, data and opinions;
  • Interviewing people and entering responses into pc tablets;
  • Preparing reports presentations and spreadsheets and assist in delivery of briefing sessions;
  • Maintaining documents related to the field studies;?
  • Any other work related to the Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab as directed by PFIP Management.

Competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Advocates and promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
  • Able to communicate clearly verbally and through email;
  • Computer literate with a working knowledge of data analysis and info-graphic tools and a willingness to learn new applications.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

The person shall have the following attributes, experience and knowledge:

  • Education shall be at graduate level as a minimum; preferably in Mathematics, Statistics, Accounting /Finance, Economics/Commerce or a related discipline;
  • Postgraduate/ Master’s qualification or candidate currently enrolled in a Postgraduate or Master’s program is desirable;
  • Computer literacy and knowledge of Microsoft office products is required.

Experience:

  • Sound numerical skills and knowledge of data analysis and evaluation is needed;
  • Have good organisational, time management skills, self confidence with good interpersonal skills;
  • Be able to work in a flexible manner and multi-task;
  • Knowledge of the financial services / insurance sector would be an asset;
  • Minimum work experience of six months in a relevant organisation doing similar work would be an asset;
  • Be prepared to travel to Tonga, Vanuatu, Samoa, the Solomon Islands or Papua New Guinea for short periods, with UN support as per approved travel policy.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in both written and spoken English.

Timeframes and Resources:

The intern will be expected to support the Programme in implementing the project. He/she will be granted access to:

  • The UNDP internal workspace and archive of resources and research material;
  • The UNDP subscriptions of scholarly journals and databases;
  • The UNDP internal e-communications and internet facilities.

The period of engagement shall be for six months from August 2017. There is a possibility that a follow-on contract of six months may follow based on performance of the applicant and a need based assessment of the position.

Financial Arrangements:

UNDP does not pay for internships. The costs associated with the internship must be borne by the intern or his/her nominating institution, related institution or government, which may provide the required financial assistance to its students. The intern will have to obtain financing for subsistence and make his/her own arrangements for travel, accommodation etc.

Application procedures:

All the required documents should be compiled into one file.

The application should contain:

  • Combine all the documents into one file, ideally PDF, to be emailed with your application.
  • Application Materials (Note that only complete applications will be considered):

  • (The successful applicant will subsequently require health insurance coverage.) UNDP accepts no responsibility for the medical and life insurance of the intern or costs arising from accidents and illness incurred during an internship. As interns are not covered under any insurance, including MAIP, they should not travel to hazardous locations in the course of their internship with UNDP. Successful applicants for internship must show proof of valid medical and life/accident insurance for the duty station for which they will work. It must include adequate coverage in the event of an injury or illness during the internship which:

    • requires transportation to the Home Country or Country of Residence for further treatment;
    • results in death and requires preparation and return of the remains to the Home Country, or Country of Residence.
  • Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials;
  • The selection process will consist of interviews and a written test.

Candidates who are shortlisted for an interview must submit prior the interview the following documents:

  • Official letter from the University confirming enrollment in a graduate-level degree programme (and graduation date);
  • Letter of endorsement from a senior faculty member who has directly supervised the student in the recent past and who is fully acquainted with the student's performance;
  • Copy of school transcript;
  • A brief statement setting out the reasons why he/she is seeking an internship with UNDP and what is expected from the experience;

Before being offered an internship position, the selected candidate will have to provide the following additional documents:

  • A Medical Certificate of Good Health from a recognized physician. If the intern is expected to travel outside the country of their residence, other than to Europe and North America, the physician must indicate whether he/she is fit to travel and has had the required inoculations for the country or countries to which the intern is to travel.

The successful candidate will be advised of his/her selection within 2 weeks of being interviewed.

For enquiries, please contact Praneel Pritesh via e-mail - praneel.pritesh@undp.org or call on 3227507/ 9251761.