Background

The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is the UN Secretariat department responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to complex emergencies and natural disasters. OCHA also ensures that there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort.

Located within the Information Services Branch (ISB), the Field Information Services (FIS) section is responsible for strengthening the information management capacity of OCHA in both disaster preparedness and response. In particular, the principal roles of FIS are to: facilitate the effective strategic management of OCHA's field information domain, i.e. the range and volume of information that OCHA acquires, generates and disseminates; provide coordination and leadership in the application of information management in disaster preparedness and response, helping to assure that the information resources and information management expertise required by OCHA to function effectively in emergencies is available; and build sustainable partnerships in advance of disasters that directly contribute to the predictable exchange of information in emergencies.

This internship will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, and the intern will be under the general guidance and direct supervision of manager situated within the section of assignment. The internship is being offered for a minimum period of six Weeks, with a possibility of extension up to a maximum period of six (6) months, starting as soon as possible.

Duties and Responsibilities

  • Support OCHA in fulfilling its mission to coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors. Advocate for the rights of people in need, promote preparedness and prevention.
  • Support migration of existing datasets into new database templates and support organization of files, undertake research and collection of key humanitarian datasets from variety of sources under guidance of IMO’s,
  • Assist with design and preparation of studies on humanitarian technology and innovation, support building mobile applications,
  • Design training materials and support various aspects of graphic design for info-graphics, UI/UX (user-interface/user-experience) design and video editing.
  • Performing other tasks requested by the supervisor.

 

Competencies

CREATIVITY: Actively seeks to improve programmes or services; offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs; promotes and persuades others to consider new ideas; takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; thinks "outside the box"; takes an interest in new ideas and new ways of doing things; is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches. TECHNOLOGICAL AWARENESS: Keeps abreast of available technology; understands applicability and limitations of technology to the work of the office; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; shows willingness to learn new technology.

TEAMWORK: works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others' ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

To qualify for an internship with the United Nations Internship Programme, applicants must meet one of the following requirements: Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); or Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor's level or equivalent); or Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one year period of graduation from an academic programme. Applicants who are unable to commence the internship within one year of graduation shall not be accepted. The University degree must be in the area of political science, social science, geography, business administration, information technology, information systems, mobile development or in a related field.

Experience:

Applicants are not required to have professional working experience for participation in the Programme though any academic and/or practical experience in Humanitarian Affairs issues including Humanitarian Coordination, computer science, Information Management, information systems, or information architecture is desirable.  Familiarity with data base creation and management (e.g. Excel) and/or content management tools (e.g. Drupal) would be an asset.  Applicants should be computer literate in standard software application; have a demonstrated keen interest in the work of the United Nations, a personal commitment to the ideals of the Charter and have a demonstrated ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural background and beliefs, which includes willingness to understand and be tolerant to differing opinions and views.

Language:

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this internship fluency in English (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of French or Arabic is desirable. Knowledge of another United Nations official language (Chinese, Russian Spanish) is an advantage.

Learning expectations

Upon completion of the assignment the Intern will have researched, and compiled numbers related to food insecurity, malnutrition, displacement (refugees/IDPs), humanitarian funding, infectious diseases and people in need of humanitarian response for 25 countries in the region covering the period of last 5 years.

Training components:

The training will be structured on following components of humanitarian information / data management:

1.            Data collection

2.            Data storage

3.            Data quality management

4.            Metadata management

Learning elements:

Following are expected Learning Outcomes (LO) at the end of the assignment

LO1. Understand the role of data and Information Management in achieving informed humanitarian response decision-making.

LO2. Understand the role of data in humanitarian analysis.

LO3. Apply Information management skills to acquire and store the data.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS' BANK ACCOUNTS.