Background

UN Women 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.

Unit/ Project Background:

UN Women has a proven track-record in supporting women’s political participation through its projects across various regions, under the guidance of UN Women’s founding resolution (GA resolution 64/289) and its Strategic Plan. UN Women is increasingly being called upon by UN partners, civil society partners, donors and governments to provide specific and often short-term gender expertise for capacity building and policy support on women’s political rights, participation and leadership.

To achieve its objectives and ensure a high quality rapid response capacity on women’s political rights, participation, leadership and influence, UN Women supports the adoption and implementation of constitutional reforms and other measures in laws and policies, (including temporary special measures), gender-responsive electoral processes, and institutional change to enhance women’s engagement on leadership positions.

Furthermore, the UN Women country office in DRC aims to show the results and the impact of its work on communities and the lives of women in the country. Communication initiatives that provide and use information with a clearly defined goal are essential in this respect. This is especially important when the communication efforts focus on the mobilization of resources and the need of more documented results which tends to demonstrate the value for money. In the current funding environment, it is a priority to ensure communication is done in an effective way to leverage on the multiple social media platforms and showcase the impact of work the DRC office is having on the ground in improving the lives of Congolese women.

Therefore, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the contribution of agriculture to GDP is estimatedat 40 %. Agriculture is mainly subsistencial, practiced on small-scale individual and/or family. The rural population accounts for 70% of the overall population of the country, and 60% of this rural population works in the agricultural sector. Women represent 51 percent of the rural population, and 85% of them are engaged in the agricultural sector.

UN Women is explicitly and exclusively focused on promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in DRC. In the past years, the UNW Office has established solid partnership with the Congolese government as well as excellent relations with the major women-led organizations and civil society organisations. In support to the most essentiel agriculture sector and in line with its strategic plan, the Country office has developed a agriculture flagship that it is planning to launch in Q4 of 2017 and implement the different action points. In that regard, the UNW DRC Office has started strenghtening its team and is planning to recruit additional staff to support in the implementation of the agriculture flagship.

Women represent some 50% of refugees in the DRC and are at perpetual risk of gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as rape and domestic violence. Gender-based violence and unequal power relations between women and men significantly affect the prospects of advancement, participation and general wellbeing of women, particularly in situations of conflict. This issue needs to be urgently addressed. The country has made great strides in investigating and prosecuting of sexual offences however a lot still needs to be done.

Duties and Responsibilities

 

Description of Functions:

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Deputy Country Representative and direct supervision of the National Programme officer.  UN Women is hiring 4 interns to support the office in the following responsabilities:

  • Provide support to the Programme team in the area of:

    • communication;

    • Leadership and political participation

    • Women economic empowerment;

    • SGBV and Peace and security;

  • Work closely with the National Program Office/Programme Specialist and other UN Women team members at the country level to provide program support to develop innovative concepts/programmers and implement initiatives

  • Support in the advocacy support and Knowledge building and management of the program;
  • support the development of concept notes, preparation of the project documents ans reports upon the request of the Deputy Representative/Nationa programme officer;
  • Any other tasks as assigned by the Senior Management

Learning Objectives:

  • Increased understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;

  • Learning the work in the different pillars of UN Women;

  • Experience in working in the development of gender equality in developing countries;

  • Meeting and networking with UN Women colleagues in other units and pillars;

  • Work as a team member in a multicultural setting.

Key Deliverables:

  • Provide support to the Programme team including coverage of the various events/ initiatives organized by the DRC office such as workshops, meeting, consultation and documentation.

Competencies

Competencies

The below Core Values and Core Competencies are required for all positions. To add particular skills, qualifications, and/or competencies for the position you are advertising, please include those under Functional Competencies below.

Core Values and Guiding 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.

 

Core Competencies:

  • Ethics and Values:

  • Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

  • Organizational Awareness:

  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

  • Development and Innovation:

  • Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

  • Work in teams:

  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

  • Communicating and Information Sharing:

  • Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

  • Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards other.

  • Conflict Management:

  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

  • Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

  • Establishes and nurtures positive communication with partner

  • Promoting organizational learning and knowledge sharing: Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things

  • Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

  • Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

  • Establishes and nurtures positive communication with partner

  • Promoting organizational learning and knowledge sharing: Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things

  • Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

Functional Competencies:

  • Ability to analyze data and to interpret and evaluate results, and create reports and/or presentations.

  • Ability to effectively utilize computer software (i.e. MS Excel, Access, oracle, etc.) for database development and management.

  • Communicating clearly and objectively the work done and the resulting findings.

  • Use appropriate standards for reporting certain findings or recommendations.

  • Ability to follow instructions through a standard work process.

  • Ability to perform routine tasks and to check work for accuracy before completion of tasks.

  • Advocacy/Advancing: Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences in advocating for UN Women's mandate within the broader context of Communicating

  • Builds Strategic Partnerships: Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders; Establishes and nurtures positive communication with partner

  • Promoting organizational learning and knowledge sharing: Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things

  • Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications

The below qualifications are required, however you may make changes to the university subject and languages portion:

Education:

  • The intern must have studies in Public Administration, Public Policies, International Development, communication, International Relations or related fields (minimum Bachelor's level or equivalent), or other similar subject at the university level;

  • Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor's level or equivalent); have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation.

Language:

  • Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English and French are required; Working knowledge of another UN language a distinct advantage

Interns are not financially remunerated by UN Women.

Application Information:

  • UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

  • Selected applicants must provide the internship application, two letters of recommendation, proof of health insurance and school enrollment, passport, and visa (if applicable)

UN Women Internship Policy:

Applicants to the United Nations internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

  • Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);

  • Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);

  • Have graduated with a university degree (as above) and, if selected, must commence the internship

 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, sponsoring Government or institution;

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, and application