The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP works through 136 country offices to provide development advocacy, advice and assistance to 166 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Arab States, Eastern Europe, CIS, Latin America and the Caribbean, working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Fragility, conflicts, crises and shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, undermine development gains, and block the path to a sustainable peace. Hence, addressing fragility is a key element in the work of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau and UNDP’s strategic approach to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The ‘Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement Team’ (CFPET) works across the Crisis Bureau and with external stakeholders to prevent and respond to crisis and the problem of fragility. CFPET promotes improved development and peace results in fragile and crisis contexts to build safer societies, advance Agenda 2030, and make good on our collective promise to leave no-one behind. The purpose of CFPET is to inform and shape, catalyse and facilitate UNDP’s engagement on crisis and fragility issues and drives work for the Crisis Bureau on:

• Insight and knowledge on key crisis and fragility issues, which are country/region-specific, global and cross-cutting and that enable UNDP to anticipate and respond in a timely way to risks, and position UNDP as a forward-looking and innovative organisation;
• Innovative and enterprising policy solutions, which enable UNDP to deliver improved programming and approaches to crisis and fragility issues and better play its role of global thought-leader (and integrator for the UN system) on “big ticket” crisis and fragility issues from a development perspective;
• Strategic partnerships and advocacy, which position UNDP as the bridge across the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus, and as the development partner of choice in crisis and fragile contexts;
• Innovative crisis and fragility finance opportunities and instruments, which enable programme countries to attract novel sources of funding and UNDP to better mobilise resources to deliver results on crisis and fragility situations; and
• Fostering an integrated, coordinated and coherent Crisis Bureau within UNDP’s Global Policy Network (GPN), which enables UNDP and the UN system to be more effective and efficient in delivering results in crisis and fragility contexts.

CFPET work priorities include policy development, partnerships and advocacy, advisory services, risk analysis and knowledge management. In the upcoming months, CFPET will focus on organizing a corporate-wide, internally and externally facing “Fragility Month” to highlight UNDP’s policy and programmatic work in crisis affected countries. Within Fragility Month, the annual event of the CoP Crisis Prevention and Fragility will take place.

CFPET is recruiting an intern to support these workstreams and the day-to-day management of the Community of Practice (CoP) Crisis Prevention and Resilience. The Intern will report to the CoP Facilitator – Crisis Prevention and Resilience and will work closely with colleagues managing the communities.

Support to the Community of Practice (CoPs)

• Support to CoP facilitator related to networking activities;
• Support the development and implementation of relevant online discussions, webinars and in person events;
• Support the organization and facilitation of the CoP 2021 annual event, which will take place virtually during the first week of March 2021;
• Support with the creation of bi-weekly digestible, targeted email updates (“Snapshots”) to bring the most pertinent updates and opportunities for engagement to the attention of the CoP members;
• Continually update relevant information on a curated, easy to use, central web portal (Spark Blue);
• Support preparation of knowledge products pulling from the CoP members’ knowledge, experience and engagements including e-discussion summaries, FAQs, lessons learned overviews, guidance documents and case studies, for reference and use by the community members and beyond.

Network analysis

• Keep track of CoP engagement stats;
• Review and analyse activity of CoPs and social networking platform;
• Support data analytics visualisations;
• Support implementation and monitoring of CoP measurement framework.

Support “Fragility Month”

• Support to planning and facilitation of events held during Fragility Month, e.g. support the programme development, outreach and communication, coordination with other teams, country offices and regional bureaus;
• Support the development and dissemination of 31 “short stories” (for social media) related to fragility and UNDP assistance in fragile contexts;
• Document virtual events and support the overall documentation and reporting process of the month-long event.

Corporate:

• Commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and the UNDP Statement of Purpose.
• Demonstrated interest and motivation in the field of development;
• A desire to work with people with different language, national and cultural backgrounds

Functional:

• Exemplary planning and organizational skills with a high degree of detail orientation;
• Strong electronic communication skills including writing, summarizing and editing short items;
• Skilled working with data management and analysis;
• Experience working with data visualization tools (for example, Microsoft Power BI) a plus
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task;
• Attention to detail is crucial;
• Ability to work independently;
• Responsible, responsive and enthusiastic. 

Education:

• 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).
• 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 Requirements:

• Proficient in written and spoken English. Knowledge of another UN language would be an asset.

Institutional arrangements:

The intern will be part of UNDP’s Crisis & Fragility Policy and Engagement Team (CFPET) in Geneva.

In the current context, the intern is expected to work from home, as travel may be restricted to/ from Geneva.

Conditions of internship

• As of 1 January 2020, Interns may be given a stipend in accordance with the UNDP Internship Policies, if the intern is not financially supported by any institution or programme, such as a university, government, foundation or scholarship programme; the stipend is intended to compensate for the cost of living at the duty station.
• Interns are responsible for securing adequate medical insurance for the duration of the internship. UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship.
• To travel to the duty station, the intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed.
• Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to, any post in UNDP during the period of the internship.
• Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity.
• 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.
• The intern will be evaluated at the end of the contract and due recognition of work will be issued in writing.
•  For more information about the application process and UNDP's internship terms and conditions, visit: www.undp.org/internships

How to Apply

Applicants should send a cover letter and CV through the online portal. Please note that only one document can be uploaded, therefore please scan the cover letter and CV all into one document.

Selected candidates will be contacted by email and will be asked to submit the following documents:

• Letter from his/her university confirming current enrollment and graduation date;
• Letter of recommendation from a professor;
• Copy of his/her most recent school transcript;
• Copy of passport;
• Completed UNDP internship application form;
• signed UNDP Internship Agreement;
• Medical Certificate of Good Health;
• Proof of medical insurance coverage for the duration of the internship assignment in Switzerland.

Kindly note the above documentation is required within one week after selection.