Background

he constitution RDTL provides a provision of special status to Oé-Cusse, stating that it shall be ‘governed by a special administrative policy and economic regime’ (Article 71, Clause 2) and a law on Oé-Cusse has recently been passed by the National Parliament.  
 
UNDP has been providing Policy advice to the Special Economic Zone for Social Market Economy (ZEESM) Office since its establishment and has developed a program to support ZEESM conceive, establish and support governance and sustainable and innovative development structures and systems in Oé-Cusse. The framework for UNDP’s support to Oé-Cusse ZEESM is built around two components: (i) governance (ii) sustainable and innovative development. Thus, as part of the roll out process of ZEESM there is a need to formulate policies and provide high quality advice to support priority areas that have clear and strong forward linkages to the ZEESM. The proposed assistance is aligned with the priorities of the Fifth Constitutional Government as articulated under Timor-Leste Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 to establish special zones of social market economy to transform the lives of the people of Oé-Cusse with an integrated approach to sustainable, social and economic development.

Agribusiness Development Program (ADP).  
Within this project, UNDP is supporting local economic development processes in Oé-Cusse by accompanying the territories in the definition of economic participatory development strategies, based on the endogenous potentialities and resources as well as exogenous or opportunity factors. The aim is to endow the territories with local capacities, and to generate decent productive opportunities and social equality, hence securing the welfare of the population.
The overall strategic objective of the program is: To foster sustainable livelihoods in Oé-Cusse through agri-business development.

Living Conditions: 
Timor Leste is half of a tropical island characterized by a rugged mountain chain running east-west that divides the country into a generally warmer north coast and a milder south coast. The capital city, Dili, is in the north.  Oé-Cusse (duty station of this contract) is a district of East Timor. Oé-Cusse is a coastal exclave in the western part of the island of Timor, separated from the rest of East Timor by West Timor, which is part of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia and which surrounds Oé-Cusse in all directions except the north, where it borders the Savu Sea. The capital of the district is Pante Macassar, also called Oé-Cusse Town.  
Climate: The climate along the coast is relatively warm hot year-round with an annual average temperature of 30°C. There are two distinct seasons: the north-east monsoon season, which runs from November to March, constitutes the rainy season throughout the country. The southeast monsoon season, which runs from March to October, constitutes the dry season with some rain on the southern coast but otherwise dry and windy conditions in the rest of the country. The climate inland with its high mountains can be very cold with an annual average temperature of 15°C.   

Health:

Now, public hospital and private clinic service to community and not listed as a recommended medical facility for UN staff. In case of emergency evacuation to be taken in place through helicopter to capital Dili. However, basic health facilities are available in the region. The intern is responsible for having a health insurance during the mission. 
Diet, Food and Water: Most staple foods can be found in the markets such as rice, meat, vegetables, cooking oil, salt and sugar. There is a variety of food ranging from Western to Southeast Asian fare. You can also find several local restaurants with less expensive meals. The price range for a meal can range from $3 to $11+.

Hotels:
Most of the hotels in Oe-cusse are aimed at internationals and offer a good level of comfort with air-conditioned rooms and en-suite bathrooms. You can expect to pay from $30 to $50 per night.  

Permanent Accommodation:
Expect that your accommodation will range from the very basic to adequate, although many private houses in Oe-cusse have been renovated to a reasonable or even considered ‘luxurious’ level of comfort.  The rate of reconstruction and renovation in the districts has been much slower than in Dili.  Accommodation is far more likely to be of a very basic level.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Project Manager (PM), and the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development RAEOA- ZEESM TL, the selected candidate will execute and ensure specific activities to support farmers groups in the creation of cooperatives and associations.  The intern will focus on the following tasks:

• Develop the strategy and framework to promote the development of cooperatives and farmers associations in the Oé-Cusse region. 

• Develop a guide and a power point presentation that will guide the process of developing cooperatives or farmers associations in the region.

• Prepare and implement trainings and workshops for 6 farmers groups (coffee, sea fish, candlenuts, mandarin, rice and pineapple) to prepare organization chart, statute, roles and responsibilities, etc.

• Support the project team on preparing communication materials: press releases, brochures, and newsletters. 

Competencies

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;

• Self-development, initiative-taking;

• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;

• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;

• Creating synergies through self-control;

• Managing conflict;

• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff membe;

• Informed and transparent decision making.

Expected Results and Outputs:

The intern will execute and ensure specific activities to support farmers groups in the creation of cooperatives and associations. A more detailed work plan and list of outputs will be developed between the supervisor and the intern upon commencement of the internship based on the Unit’s needs and the intern’s skills and interest. The intern should be able to share his/her previous experience in farmers groups capacity development, business development, social and solidarity economy or preparing training materials.

Financing the Internship: 

Interns are not financially remunerated by UNDP. Costs and arrangemens for the travel, visas, accomodation and living expenses are the responsibility of:
• The nominating institution, related institution or government, which may provide the required financial assistance to its student; or
• The intern, who will have to obtain financing for subsistaence through private sources and make his or her own arrangements for travel, accommodation etc. 

Career Opportunities:

The purpose of internship is not to lead to further employment with UNDP but to complement an intern’s studies. However, a number of interns, having completed their studies and met the necessary requirements, have gone on to further assignments in the United Nations system through success in competitive recruitment process after the end of their internship programme.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

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

(a) Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); Degree in business development, economy, public administration, or related areas.

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

(c) Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation. As define in (a).

Languages:

• Requirement: English (written and 

• Advantage: Tetum, Baikeno and Portuguese