Background

Most commodity sectors in developing countries are afflicted by poor production practices that lead to increasing pressure on ecosystems and fail to improve the livelihoods of rural communities. Poor production practices lead to negative environmental impacts such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, carbon emissions, soil erosion, depletion of water resources and contamination from chemicals. In fact, the largest driver of deforestation is the production of agricultural commodities. On the social side, working conditions in commodity production are often not in line with basic labor rights. Despite recent commodity booms, small producers are held in poverty, mostly due to low productivity and product quality.

Despite the progress made through standards and supply-chain initiative, weaknesses in the underlying enabling environment limit change at a larger scale. An effective enabling environment consists of elements such as clear public policies, a well-functioning legal framework, clarity regarding land-use planning, effective enforcement mechanisms, accessible credit structures, and effective farmer extension services. As a result of the absence of these elements, work on commodity sustainability remains less effective than it could be, and costlier and more time-consuming than it should be. Improving the enabling environments will increase the chances of sector-wide change to sustainable production practices.

UNDP established the Green Commodities Programme (GCP) in 2009 in recognition of the importance of global agricultural commodities and how they contribute to economical, social and environmental sustainability and the need to strengthen UNDP’s support and leadership in the field.  GCP was initiated with seed funding from the UNDP and was tasked to evolve into a global programme supporting UNDP’s Strategic Plan, building on almost a decade of GEF supported projects mainstreaming ecosystem services into productive landscapes.  GCP’s global 

targets, objectives and delivery strategies are based on inclusive and sustainable growth and development – combining governments and markets in agriculture through public private partnerships and democratic dialogue processes. GCP’s focus on strengthening the livelihoods of smallholder producers within commodity supply chains and reducing environmental footprints, particularly deforestation, through public private partnerships can be key for UNDP’s ambitions to reduce poverty, reduce deforestation and engage the private sector in SDGs. 

The Green Commodities Programme (GCP) exists to improve the national economic, social and environmental performance of agricultural commodity sectors. GCP works within agricultural commodity production in countries of UNDP operation where the programme can have significant impact on rural livelihoods, mitigate climate change, and maintain the ecosystem services and resilience of landscapes and seascapes.

The GCP has pioneered the concept of National Commodity Platforms to help governments facilitate shared visions and actions for sustainable commodity production among key stakeholders. GCP operates in over 10 countries globally.

For further information, please go to: http://www.undp.org/content/gcp/en/home.html

Duties and Responsibilities

Main tasks:

Support to the UNDP Green Commodities team:

• Organization and logistics of project events such as planning workshop, Community of Practice, thematic workshops, webinars
• Travel arrangements, administrative tasks and related correspondence both in Spanish and English
• Translation, proof reading and editing of documents;
• Preparation of presentations, briefing notes, meeting minutes and reports;
• Data collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation in flowcharts, tables or slides;
• Maintaining internal filing system up to date;
• Draft routine correspondence and communications;
• Ensure flow of information and dissemination of materials amongst project team, Initiatives, and partners as needs be;
• Support and assist project team members, as and when needed
• Assist in other project management related tasks, as needed.
• Other related tasks.

Competencies

Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• 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;
• Strong IT skills including MS Office;
• Excelent writing skills;
• Interest in logistics and event organization.

Personal Skills:

• Creative, proactive and supportive;
• At ease with multitasking and precise;
• Able to take initiative and work independently;
• Ability to work in team; creating a positive environment;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;

Excellent organizational, inter-personal, communication and administrative skill.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent) such as administration, accounting, business administration, project or event management, logistics or related field; or Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher) such as administration, accounting, business administration, project or event management, logistics or related field; or Have graduated with a university degree such as administration, business administration, accounting, project or event management, logistics or related field and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Experience

- Experience in administrative and accounting tasks is an asset

- Experience with event organization is an asset

Language Requierments:

Fluency in English and Spanish 

Working hours:

• Full time, five days per week;
• Days off will be granted as needed and in compliance with the UNDP internship policy.

Conditions:

• The UNDP internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship;
• The intern will need to provide proof of health and life/accident insurance;
• UNDP 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 UNDP during the period of the internship;
• The intern must provide proof of enrollment in health insurance plan;

Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity

Financial Issues:

Internships within the UN system are unpaid and subject to conditions the applicant must get familiar with prior to signing his/her internship agreement. The costs associated with the internship must be borne by the nominating institution, related institution or government, which may provide the required financial assistance to its students; or by the student, who will have to obtain financing for subsistence and make his or her own arrangements for travel, accommodation etc.

Application Procedure:

The application should contain:

• Brief Cover Letter (in English) stating interest in and qualifications for the post;
• Current and complete CV in English;
• One relevant writing sample.

Please group all your documents into one  single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Candidates who are selected for must submit prior to the interview the following documents:

• Official document(s) confirming your education status stated in Section 4;
• Proof of medical and life/accident insurance valid for the location in which the internship will be carried out. Selected intern must have medical and life insurance.

UNDP only accepts interns for a minimum of 6 weeks and a maximum of 6 months.

UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship.

Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity.

It is important to note that interns are responsible to arrange for their own visa and residence documents, and need to plan for these well in advance.

Subsequent Employment

The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment with UNDP but to complement an intern’s studies. 

Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship.

More information available at: http://www.undp.org/internships/.

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.