The Gender Equality Team at the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH) supports UNDP Country Offices in the Europe and Central Asia region with a range of advisory services to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. These include the design and development of programmes and strategic initiatives, promoting engagement with women’s organizations and other civil society partners, and strengthening innovative approaches, peer learning and strategic partnerships within and outside the region. It also supports the design and implementation of regional and sub-regional initiatives to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, and tracks and presents the results achieved by UNDP programmes and initiatives in the region in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The intern will work closely with the Programme Specialist in the Gender Equality Team under the overall supervision of the Regional Team Leader. The intern is expected to work in the following areas:

Research, documentation, and knowledge management;

• Contribute to Covid-19 response and recovery programs and strategies at regional and national levels with research, data and generating and sharing knowledge
• Contribute to training and learning materials on gender mainstreaming (e.g. presentations, webinars, background briefs)
• Assist in the preparation and editing of other written materials (e.g. briefing notes and talking points, regional fact sheets and analyses overviews of results)
• Contribute to the content of the regional gender equality in STEM platform (e.g. collecting data and information, identifying networks, and providing feedback on the website)
• Contribute to (virtual) innovative advocacy campaigns to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment and social media presence.
• Support the design of the social media content

Virtual meetings and online events;

• Support the organization of internal and external virtual regional meetings and online events involving UNDP staff and external gender equality practitioners (e.g., conferences, launch events for publications, internal presentations).
• Support the organization of the partner's engagement and outreach events and initiatives (e.g. webinars, podcasts, talks etc.) and related follow up

Other activities

• Provide general support to the work of the Gender Equality Team (e.g. participate in (virtual) meetings help with notes and minutes, assist with reporting requirements).

• Self-starter, with the ability to multi-task and work to deadlines;
• Excellent relationship management and ability to work in a multi-cultural environment;
• Attention to detail;
• Strong research and writing skills;
• Strong communications skills, especially in various forms of online communications and social media.

Academic qualifications/ education;

(a) Be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme (such as a master’s programme, or higher);

(b) Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (such as bachelor’s degree or equivalent);

(c) Have recently graduated with a university degree in gender studies, human rights, international relations, social sciences, ethnology, public policy or related disciplines; (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation;

Experience:

• Demonstrated strong interest and knowledge in theory and practice of women’s empowerment and gender equality issues;
• Familiarity with gender equality issues in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, is an advantage;
• Experience in research on gender equality issues is considered an asset;
• Excellent computer literacy (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Language skills:

• Proficiency in English, with excellent writing, research and analytical skills is a must;
• Knowledge of Russian would be an advantage.

Financial Issues

Internships within the UN system are subject to conditions the applicant must get familiar with before signing his/her internship agreement. 

Starting from January 2020 interns may receive stipends according to UN rules and regulations. Where an intern is financially supported by an institution, government or third party, UNDP will, subject to the rules of such institution, government or third party, pay the intern the difference, if any, between the external financial support provided and the applicable UNDP stipend.

Any further 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 arrangements for travel, accommodation and other costs. 

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;

Please group all your documents into one (1) 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. 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.