Intern – Social and Environmental Compliance Unit – Office of Audit and Investigations

Background

SECU is seeking to recruit an intern for a period of six months, beginning around 9 September 2024.

UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards (SES) apply to UNDP projects and programmes and are intended to strengthen the social and environmental outcomes of UNDP projects and avoid adverse impacts to people and the environment affected by projects. UNDP’s Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) within the Office of Audit and Investigations (OAI) helps ensure compliance with the SES. SECU forms one of the two units that comprise UNDP’s Accountability Mechanism (the other being a dispute resolution function that is located in a separate office from SECU). SECU conducts compliance reviews in response to complaints alleging that the SES have somehow been violated in the context of UNDP projects and programming. SECU investigates these claims to determine if and how the SES have been violated (rendering a project “out of compliance with the SES”), and how a project can be brought into compliance with corrective measures.

The operations of SECU within OAI are ongoing and require support, with a particular emphasis on raising awareness of SECU, conducting outreach campaigns with related media, coordinating our social media presence, assisting in policy/factual research, providing logistical support for events (such as conferences, presentations, and meetings), and supporting its operations, including the possibility of assisting in specific compliance review cases. SECU is seeking an intern to aid in these functions.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the SECU Head of Unit, the Intern will be asked to complete tasks from the following:
• Assists in policy and/or factual research;
• Assists in social media, traditional media and other outreach/communication campaigns;
• Assists in editing, formatting, and drafting relevant documents;
• Assists in identifying, collating and analysing potential evidence;
• Assists in event and logistics coordination, including conferences that SECU would organize itself and ones that SECU would attend/present at;
• Assists in various administrative tasks;
• Assists in the intake and processing of SECU complaints and/or Dispute Resolution requests;
• If multilingual, assists in translations and translation quality control of relevant documents, as well as outreach/inreach in other languages; and
• Undertakes other related functions as requested by the SECU Unit Coordinator or others at OAI/SECU.

Competencies

• Possesses a willingness to be adaptive, take on extra responsibility, be proactive and willing to help on whatever needs assistance;
• Be independent and able to work in a dynamic environment;
• Displays cultural sensitivity;
• Produces timely, quality outputs; and
• Ability to handle multiple tasks.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required; and
• Current enrollment in or recently graduated from (within 1 year) a related graduate program(s) such as international development/affairs/public policy, human rights/environmental law, communications, or another related field.

Experience:

• Knowledge of Microsoft Office programmes (Word, Power Point, Excel) required;
• Excellent research, writing, communication, editing, and time-management skills;
• Knowledge of social media platforms required;
• Knowledge of graphic design and video-editing software (Adobe suite, etc) desirable; and
• Interest and/or experience in law, compliance, administrative decision-making, accountability mechanisms, alternative dispute resolution, and/or international development desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English required;
• Fluency in Spanish or French is highly desirable; and
• Proficiency in other languages desirable.

Additional Information:

• Internship is located at UNDP Headquarters in New York City, with the possibility to conduct the internship partly remotely;
• Internship will be for a period of approximately 6 months;
• Internship will be full-time, with the possibility of part-time arrangements, depending on availability;
• Internship starts around 9 September 2024;
• UNDP pays a monthly stipend to interns, which will be pro-rated for part-time and/or partly remote internship arrangements. For a full-time in-person internship in New York City, the monthly stipend is $1000;
• Costs and arrangements for travel, visas, accommodation, and living expenses are the responsibility of the intern; and
• A person who is the child or sibling of a UNDP staff member is not eligible to apply for an internship at UNDP.