Internships with Advocacy Team

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

 

For every child, an advocate

UNICEF’s Community Health and Nutrition Advocacy Team is hiring two advocacy interns to support the team for six months starting in September 2024. These paid internships are located in the Division of Global Communication and Advocacy. The interns will be supervised by the Nutrition Advocacy Manager and the Advocacy Specialist responsible for the Gates Foundation advocacy partnership.  

We are looking for individuals who are passionate about securing new policies, resources, and commitments which will accelerate action on child survival. UNICEF uses a range of advocacy tactics and approaches to reach decision makers and the public, and an interest in learning more about how change happens is a necessity for this role. Working collaboratively with UNICEF offices and partners is a core part of the advocacy team’s role, and we are looking for individuals with a passion for partnership and coordination. Our strength as a team is driven by good communications, teamwork, and a collective determination for high-impact actions and activities.  

 

How can you make a difference? 

The internship aims to provide an opportunity to be embedded into UNICEF’s community health and nutrition advocacy team, to learn more about global advocacy and communications strategies, initiatives, and activities, while also providing opportunities the selected individuals can undertake and lead on key tasks and projects to contribute to the team’s overall goals. Successful candidates will have an opportunity to work on UNICEF’s global advocacy and communications moments and priority workstreams, which could include report launches, data releases, influencing the outcomes of political processes and meetings, and major political forums.  

Both interns will have the opportunity to work on multiple issue areas and on cross-cutting projects, but one intern will focus primarily on nutrition and the other will focus primarily on immunization and maternal/child health.  

Key tasks during the internship will include:   

• Supporting the coordination of meetings, webinars, and workshops, and producing relevant resources for these
• Desk research and writing key messages and short advocacy briefs on nutrition and other child survival topics
• Attending and supporting planning meetings, partnership and advocacy grant related meetings and workshops, and other internal events
• Improving and supporting internal coordination systems for knowledge sharing across UNICEF offices (using SharePoint)
• Prepare pitch decks or presentations for advocacy and communications activities

To fill this role, we are looking for students and recent graduates with a background in international development, public health, public policy, or international affairs who see themselves in an NGO/non-profit sector advocacy, policy or communications role in the future. A background in communications, advocacy, or related fields with demonstrable knowledge in vaccines, food systems, nutrition, public health or international development is desirable. This role requires strong writing and organizational skills, and attention to detail. 

If that sounds like you, apply by submitting your CV and a PPT presentation of no more than 5 slides, which answers the following questions. Please note your PPT is your cover letter, no other cover letter is necessary, nor will it be considered.  

• Who are you, why are you interested in doing an internship at UNICEF, and what do you hope to get out of it?
• UNICEF’s global advocacy aims to secure public and political will for action on child survival. We work with UNICEF offices around the world, including many donor governments who provide essential financing to support services to improve nutrition, vaccines, and children’s health in low-income countries.
• In your PPT:
• Please set out what you think are the reasons governments should continue to invest in child survival?
• Set out three activities or approaches you recommend that UNICEF can take to ensure children’s health is prioritized by governments.
• Write an Instagram post in the voice of UNICEF’s Executive Director calling for investment in child survival.

Advice and application criteria:  

• We’re looking for a ?read deck’ not a ?presentation deck’. You won’t be asked to give your PPT as a lecture, it’s more like a brochure to show us clearly why you are the best candidate for this position.
• But we are not looking for an essay ? keep the deck under 800 words.
• We are looking for advocates and great communicators, so make your copy shine as well as your creativity.
• Send your PPT as a PDF only.
• Only applications which meet the PPT criteria will be considered.

 

 To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have? 

• Be enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or Ph.D. degree programme or have graduated within the past two years.
• Applicants must be at least 18 years old.
• Have a relevant background in nutrition, food systems, community health, global health, or international development. Experience in a prior NGO/non-profit role, especially in advocacy and communications, is an asset.
• Excellent writing and research skills, including experience in writing short reports and briefing notes.
• Experience developing or maintaining knowledge management tools and systems is desirable.
• Good working knowledge and experience across Microsoft SharePoint, Word, PowerPoint, Excel is required.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.
• Have excellent academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records.
• Have no immediate relatives (e.g. father, mother, brother, sister) working in any UNICEF office; and have no other relatives in the line of authority that the intern will report to.​​​​​​​
• Additional consideration will be given for any relevant past experience.

 

Additional Information 

This is a paid full-time internship with a monthly stipend of $1,700. The internship is based in UNICEF’s New York Headquarters in New York. Up to $1,000 will be available for travel to NYC and any visa costs should the applicant not currently be based in the city.  

Depending on the dates and location of advocacy workshops related to the internship deliverables, there may be an opportunity to travel. Travel related costs including flights, accommodation, and DSA, will be covered by UNICEF, but the successful candidate will need to prove personal travel insurance for the location and dates of the trip.   

 

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness(3)Drive to achieve results for impact(4)Innovates and embraces change(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity(6)Thinks and acts strategically(7)Works collaboratively with others.

[add the 8th competency (Nurtures, leads and manages people) for supervisory role]

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. 
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

 

Remarks:  

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. 

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

 

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