Background

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.

UN Women supports other UN organizations in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in their humanitarian efforts by providing coordination and leadership, technical expertise, capacity-building, and evidence-based response and advocacy to the global humanitarian system. We assist Member States in implementing policies and commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian action. We also promote the voices, agency and capacity of women’s civil society organizations and national women’s machineries in humanitarian efforts.

The intern will join the growing UN Women Crisis Preparedness, Prevention and Response team in Geneva, which guides UN Women’s work in gender responsive humanitarian action and crisis response, including disaster risk reduction, preparedness, risk prevention and mitigation, at the global, regional and national levels. Leveraging women’s leadership and building women’s resilience to cope with and recover from the socio-economic impact of crisis is at the very heart of UN Women’s work, as UN Women recognizes that recovery from crisis and lasting peace cannot be achieved or sustained without investment in inclusive community participation and the meaningful engagement of women.

Accordingly, UN Women has developed two flagship programme initiatives to achieve transformative results through gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian action. These initiatives are:

  1. Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection (LEAP) in Crisis Response
  • Ensuring crisis, humanitarian and stabilization planning and programming are informed by gender analysis and assessment.
  • Increasing access to protection and economic opportunities for women affected by crises.
  • Bridging the humanitarian/development divide in protracted crises by promoting sustainable livelihoods.
  • Offering second chance educational and vocational learning for marginalized women and girls who have missed out on education, offering pathways either back into formal education or to employment or entrepreneurship.
  1. Addressing the Gender Inequality of Risk (GIR) and Promoting Community Resilience to Natural Hazards in a Changing Climate
  • Ensuring disaster risk assessments adequately consider the needs of women and girls and that women have the capacity and opportunity to engage in assessments.
  • Supporting national authorities to develop gender-responsive disaster mitigation plans.
  • Ensuring adequate levels of financing are available for gender-responsive disaster mitigation strategies.
  • Strengthening women’s capacity to prevent, prepare for, and recover from natural hazards

Moreover, aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Women’s Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme is a solution for those marginalized young girls and women who have missed out on education, offering pathways either back into formal education or to employment or entrepreneurship, through second chance education and vocational training.

The SCE Programme brings together public and private sector partners to: i) promote supportive multi-sectoral policy and financing frameworks to create an enabling environment to pilot and scale up successful SCE solutions; ii) address harmful and discriminatory social norms that keep girls and young women out of education; iii) provide high quality content; iv) tailor educational opportunities directly to the local labour market to increase the value of education and create a pipeline of educated your women ready to transition to employment.

 

UN Women Internship Policy

  • UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest;
  • Selected applicants must provide the internship application, two letters of recommendation, proof of health insurance and school enrollment, passport, and visa (if applicable).
  • UN Women internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship;
  • All the expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring Government or institution;
  • UN Women accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;
  • The intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;
  • 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.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities

  • Support in programme development in areas of crisis prevention, preparedness and response, particularly for the Second Chance Education programme;
  • Support in conducting desk-based research, including a literature review of best practices on SCE for marginalized young women, a catalogue of available content from UN Women and potential partners relevant to the SCE programme and e-learning content mapping and gaps identification;
  • Support with populating SCE web portal with high quality educational content from various UN Women initiatives and partners;?
  • Draft, review and copy-edit documents (i.e. concept notes, briefing notes, reports and presentations), including the final SCE programme document;
  • Attend and help organize events and meetings at the United Nations in Geneva;
  • Provide other assistance as required.

Learning objectives

  • Increased understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;
  • Learning the work in gender and humanitarian action in an international environment;
  • Meeting and networking with UN Women colleagues in other units;
  • Working as a team member in a multicultural setting;
  • Gaining knowledge relating to online education and learning methodologies, platforms and systems

Competencies

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 humanitarian action and crisis response and education
  • Strong writing, research and analytical skills
  • Ability to work independently and meet deadlines
  • Familiarity with learning and management web-based platforms

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • The intern must have studies in social sciences, international development, gender studies, ?education 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.