Background

Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD) is one of the UNDP’s six Global Policy Centers. IICPSD supports the private sector and foundations to become transformative partners in development through research, advocacy, facilitation of public-private dialogue and brokering partnerships. IICPSD leads UNDP’s global work on private sector and foundations and supports UNDP’s offices all around the world. Moreover, under the thematic area of private sector’s role in skills generation, IICPSD offers evidence-based knowledge and advisory services aiming to expand job opportunities for the disadvantaged through increasing the private sector’s engagement in skills development.

This assignment is part of UNDP IICPSD’s recent initiative SDG AI Lab, which is aimed to  harness the potential of frontier digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and GIS for sustainable development. The lab combines UN values and commitment to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals with the best industry practices of the leading technological companies. Currently, the lab through its partnerships, is exploring and developing digital solutions for sustainable development in 17 countries around the world. Moreover, SDG AI Lab is actively building its own volunteer developer community, which would engage hundreds of onsite and online volunteers. The Community Management Intern will support SDG AI Lab team with the volunteer community building and management efforts, which would allow to engage volunteers more effectively over extended periods of time, while strengthening their capacities.

More information about SDG AI Lab can be found online at sdgailab.org. The Programme operates under the rules and regulations of the UNDP Internship Policy.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties that the intern will be expected to carry out are:

• Support the building and growth of the vibrant SDG AI Lab developer community.
• Facilitate and moderate discussion groups in our community space and keep them lively and relevant.
• Provide support in the recruitment of new community members and their onboarding/offboarding processes.
• Respond to requests and emails from community members.
• Assist the development of the community activities plan, events’ concept notes and other community management documents.
• Contribute to the organization and facilitation of community events such as hackathons, workshops, trainings, meetups and others.
• Participate in the production of communication materials covering the community and its activities in the form of the blog posts, articles, tweets and others.
• Actively engage into the development of the community engagement measurement methodology and assist the assessment process by gathering feedback on volunteers’ motivations, needs and satisfaction.
• Contribute to the developer community branding and communications strategies developments.
• Assist in identifying new partnership opportunities towards building stronger community.
• Other relevant tasks as deemed necessary by the supervisor.

Competencies

Technical/Functional Competencies:

• Proven interest and/or experience in building, managing and moderating online community platforms, particularly communities related to digital transformation, innovations, data science, AI for Good and similar fields;  
• Excellent organizational skills and proven ability to manage diverse and complex tasks simultaneously;
• Strong communications skills and the ability to work and interact with a wide range of stakeholders;
• Demonstrated interest in exploring and applying innovative, outside the box thinking approaches with utilizing digital transformation, innovation, volunteerism, private sector engagement and/ entrepreneurship, and/or South-South Cooperation;
• Ability to manage workload with minimum supervision and collaborate with a wide range of colleagues while meeting deadlines;
• Excellent interpersonal skills: being able to listen and collaborate with a wide range of players, being able to work independently, being pro-active and taking initiative;
• Be able to work both independently and as part of a team;
• Computer proficiency: MS Office, Microsoft Teams.

Personal Competencies:

• Passion for building community;
• Excellent communicator and collaborator;
• Commitment to UNDP's mission, vision and values;
• Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age differences;
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Applicants must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

(a) Preferred educational background in computer science, engineering, statistics, economics, finance, business administration, international relations, public administration or related areas;

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

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

(d) 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.

Language:

• Fluent in English with excellent reading and writing skills.

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 will receive stipends according to UN rules and regulations.

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 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;
• 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 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.

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. More information available at: http://www.undp.org/internships/.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Stipend

Interns will be given a stipend according to the UNDP Internship Policies, if they are not financially supported by any institution or programme, such as a university, government, foundation or scholarship programme.

The monthly amount of the stipend will be determined for each duty station based on the stipend rates published yearly by the OHR Policy and Compensation Unit. The stipend will be paid on a monthly basis and part-time internship arrangements are prorated accordingly.