Grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, UN Women 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.

Through its focus on prevention and resilience building, UN Women ensures that new and existing disaster risks are mitigated by putting women at the center of disaster risk reduction, by giving them a voice, empowering them as disaster risk reduction leaders and actors, and by building their resilience. Evidence proves that the majority of victims and those affected by disasters are women. Due to the gendered dimensions of disaster risk, women and girls face greater vulnerability and exposure to disasters, yet women remain largely ignored and their capacities, unleveraged in conventional disaster risk reduction processes.

UN Women promotes gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and resilience building through technical and policy support, provision of gender expertise to disaster risk reduction mechanisms and processes, and by implementing programmes and projects for gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and resilience building, including;

1. Programme in Support of a Gender Responsive Sendai Framework Implementation: Addressing the Gender Inequality of Risk and Promoting Community Resilience to Natural Hazards in a Changing Climate (GIR)

• The GIR provides a mechanism to support countries operationalize and achieve the commitments for gender sensitive implementation of the Sendai Framework through: 1) assessing and disseminating the gender dimensions of disaster risk, 2) gender-responsive risk governance, 3) women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and resilience building and 4) women’s capacity for preparation and recovery.
• The GIR is intended to be implemented in 23 pathfinder countries, in Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
• The GIR is currently being piloted in Solomon Islands since 2018.

2. Global Programme on Women’s Disaster Resilience

• The programme proposes a comprehensive package for women’s resilience that focuses on rendering prevention, preparedness and response systems, plans and tools gender-responsive and provides targeted action enabling women and girls to withstand natural hazards, recover fully from disasters and increase their resilience to future natural hazards.
• The initiative will: influence policy change for gender-responsive humanitarian action and crisis prevention, preparedness and recovery, enhance accountability, generate catalytic action, and produce practical lessons learned and best practices for upscaling and replication.

The intern will join the growing UN Women Humanitarian Action and Crisis Response Office in Geneva, which guides UN Women’s thematic portfolio in gender-responsive humanitarian action and crisis response, including disaster risk reduction and disaster resilience, at the global, regional and national levels.

The purpose of this internship is to provide support to the activities of the disaster risk reduction and resilience team within the Humanitarian Action and Crisis Response Office in Geneva. The intern will receive overall supervision from the Programme Analyst.

• Support in conducting desk research analysis, including a literature review of best practices in disaster risk reduction and resilience initiatives, with a particular focus on the evidence of gender inequality of risk;

• Support the development of communication/advocacy materials for UN Women’s thematic portfolio on disaster risk reduction and resilience;
• Provide support in organizing events and meetings in Geneva including preparation of concept notes, briefing notes, reports and presentations;
• Provide support for proposal development and development of programme documents for disaster risk reduction and resilience;
• Provide other assistance as required by other HACRO clusters.

Learning Objectives

• Increased understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;
• Learning the work in gender, DRR and humanitarian action in an international environment;
• Increased knowledge on gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and resilience;
• Meeting and networking with UN Women colleagues in other units;
• Work as a team member in a multicultural setting.

Core Values and Guiding Principles

• Integrity
• Professionalism
• Respect for diversity

Core Competencies

• Commitment to learning
• Awareness and sensitivity regarding gender issues
• Accountability
• Effective communication
• Planning and organization skills
• Inclusive collaboration

Functional Competencies

• Knowledge on gender and disaster risk reduction and resilience
• Effective Communication skills with staff at all levels of the organization and initiative taking abilities.
• Very good analytical and writing skills.
• Demonstrated abilities of sensitivity, tact and diplomacy.
• Demonstration of cultural sensitivity and appreciation for different cultures and practices.
• Ability to pay great attention to detail and exercise sound judgment.
• Ability to work well in a team and project a positive image.
• Self-motivation and ability to recommend options for resolution of issues.
• Strong service orientation.
• Familiarity with learning and management web-based platforms

Education

• The intern must have studied in social sciences, international development, gender studies, disaster management 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); or 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 are required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is considered an advantage.

Other

• Good IT skills are required;
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment is essential;
• The intern must have a strong sense of responsibility, a flexible and proactive mindset, and the ability to work independently.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

UN Women Internship Policy

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

2. Applicants to the United Nations 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);

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

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

3. UN Women internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship;

4. All the expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring Government or institution;

5. UN Women accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;

6. The intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;

7. Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to positions in the professional and above category in UN Women during the period of the internship or for six months immediately following the expiration date of internship;

8. 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