Background

UNDP works in some 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results. Inclusive growth, better services, environmental sustainability, good governance, and security are fundamental to development progress. We offer our expertise in development thinking and practice, and our decades of experience at country level, to support countries to meet their development aspirations and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development is a joint initiative by the Government of Singapore and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which aims at identifying and co-creating technological solutions for sustainable development. The Centre curates partnerships, identifies solutions and connects partners and innovations with UNDP’s global network of Country Offices and development partners.

UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) is responsible for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan.  BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages; represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South, SIDS-SIDS and Triangular cooperation initiatives; and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative as well as knowledge and data driven through its programme support efforts.

UNDP is committed to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), working to connect the UN global processes to regional and local development priorities and supporting and advocating for SIDS-specific development solutions. With a broad country presence, UNDP has a major organizational investment and a multi-sectoral programme portfolio in SIDS. One of the outcomes in the UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021 is tailored to give special attention to “capacities developed across the whole of government to integrate the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and other international agreements (including the SAMOA Pathway) in development plans and budgets, and to analyze progress towards the SDGs, using innovative and data-driven solutions.” UNDP provides support to SIDS through policy and programme development and implementation that builds on international, national and local priorities. UNDP is committed to support SIDS through a global framework, consisting of three main pillars: Climate Action, Blue Economy and Digital Transformation. Through strategic partnerships and advocacy, UNDP aims to bridge gaps and create a network between SIDS and other key stakeholders. UNDP supports SIDS governments to build capacity — institutional, policy, technical — which enhances regional support the implementation of international normative standards and commitments in their own countries.

UNDP has a large portfolio on digital transformation and digital solutions for sustainable development through the Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development as well as strong focus on digital transformation under the policy advisory and programmatic focus on Small Island Developing States. To this end, UNDP is seeking to recruit an intern to support these efforts jointly, including supporting the development of a data visualization platform with geospatial datasets for SIDS. The intern is expected to support in the next phase of development of this data platform, specifically with working on the pipeline for compiling, processing, and analyzing geospatial dataset.

Duties and Responsibilities

Reporting jointly to the Director of the Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development and the Senior Principal Advisor for Small Island Developing States, the intern will be joining an UNDP team developing a geospatial visualization and analysis web platform.

The intern is expected to support in the next phase of development of this platform, specifically with the effort to develop a comprehensive and standardized geospatial database for SIDS. The geospatial platform is focused specifically on the SIDS in order to be effective in advancing policymaking by visualizing the challenges these countries face and mapping potential solutions. In addition to the publicly available datasets, the platform will be designed to visualize geospatial studies being developed by UNDP and other UN agencies. Analysis tools will be added to extract insights from the geospatial datasets such as correlation between datasets, identification of high-risk areas within countries, visualizing regional development potential in food security, water, and energy. The date pipeline will be refined from our current pipeline to prepare it to be hosted on the cloud in an automated environment. This intern will take responsibility for managing this data pipeline as well as the ongoing work to curate the geospatial database.

Competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
  • Strong organizational, analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
  • Strong data analysis and visualization skills;
  • Results driven, able to meet targets/deadlines;
  • Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time;
  • Creative thinking ability;
  • Highly organized and an ability to work independently;
  • Excellent analytical, writing and communication skills;
  • Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Experience:

  • Experience with using Python for GIS scripting
  • Experience with various GIS data formats and processing libraries and methodologies
  • Experience compiling and standardizing geospatial datasets in a data pipeline
  • Experience with a GIS software such as QGIS
  • Familiarity with publicly available geospatial datasets related to development
  • An understanding of development issues pertaining to SIDS is an advantage;
  • Written and spoken proficiency in English is a prerequisite.
  • Good knowledge of United Nations System is desirable
  • Voluntary / internship experience in conducting research in international development or related field

Education:

Interns are selected on a competitive basis. Applicants to UNDP internships must at the time of application meet one of the following academic 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) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

(d) be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program and undertake the internship as part of this program.

Required field of studies:

Geographic Information Systems, Geospatial Intelligence, Remote Sensing, Data Science, Computer Science,  Public Policy or related fields.

Application Process

Note: UNDP internship application form, CV and original text need to be combined in one PDF document for upload.

Conditions of internship

Internships within the UN system are subject to following conditions, which the candidates should familiarize themselves with prior to applying:

  • UNDP GC-TISD will provide a stipend in the amount of SGD 859.13 monthly in accordance with the provisions of the UNDP Internship Policy.;
  • 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;
  • UNDP accepts no responsibility for the medical and life insurance of the intern or costs arising from accidents and illness incurred during an internship. The Intern must provide proof of enrolment in a health insurance plan;
  • UNDP does not provide assistance with travel and/or housing and the Intern will be responsible for obtaining the necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;
  • The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment within the UN System, but to complement an intern’s studies. Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship. Interns must not apply for or be appointed to a position that should be encumbered by a staff member during the period of their internship;
  • Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity.
  • UNDP only accepts interns for a minimum of 6 weeks and a maximum of 6 months

Selected candidates must submit following documents prior to joining:

  • Letter from the university confirming current enrolment and graduation date;
  • Copy of passport and Singapore visa (or visa status);
  • A copy of his/her school transcript;
  • Proof of medical insurance including provision for medical evacuation and removal of mortal remains or life insurance and a medical certificate of good health prior to starting the internship.
  • A signed UNDP Internship Agreement.

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

Note: GC-TISD will consider both duty station and home-based options for this internship. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.