Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, 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’s Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division (PPID) provides global support to UN Women offices at Headquarters and in all field locations to deliver results in support of UN Women’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021 and internationally agreed goals on gender equality and women’s empowerment, including the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Division provides intellectual and strategic leadership on normative support and the delivery of integrated policy and program advice, including through policy analysis and gender mainstreaming. The Division leverages innovation, knowledge management and cutting-edge technical expertise to support UN Women programmes and to build the capacity of partners to deliver results on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

UN Women’s Strategic Plan addresses women’s economic empowerment as one of its key outcomes – women have income security, decent work and economic autonomy.  In 2023, UN Women embarked on the development of the Economic Empowerment Strategy, drawing on consultations with UN Women staff and external partners, the UN Women’s Strategic Plan and UN Women’s Independent Evaluation Service’s 2022 corporate evaluation of UN Women’s contribution to women’s economic empowerment by advancing gender-responsive laws, frameworks, policies and partnerships.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Economic Empowerment, the intern will support the roll out of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy. This will include supporting strategic outreach, communications, knowledge management, research, data analysis, coordination and logistics for the purpose of socializing and implementing the strategy with internal and external stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Support development of an internal SharePoint page for the Economic Empowerment Section that contains guidance notes and key resources for each priority and crosscutting area by compiling inputs from each team.
• Assist in putting together a roster of vetted economic empowerment experts and consultants
• Provide research assistance to analyze and track key trends and emerging areas, such as social norms and economic empowerment.
• Support logistics and notetaking for internal and external socialization of the Women’s Economic Empowerment Strategy
• Contribute to creating and curating content for dissemination through social media
• Assist in providing inputs to key messages and programme support as requested by the Chief of the Economic Empowerment section

The learning objectives for this internship are:

• Develop skills for strategic planning, communications, knowledge management and policy analysis
• Enrich knowledge of women’s economic empowerment
• Practice and apply methods for policy research and project management
• Gain a familiarity with UN processes and ways of working
• Enhance core competencies and effective teamwork

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/application-process#_Values

Functional Competencies:

• Foundational knowledge and/or experience relating to topic such as gender, economics, development, human rights
• Familiarity with online internal and external communications tools such as SharePoint and social media.
• Strong organizational skills
• Experience with strategic planning and communications

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University studies in one of the following disciplines: Gender, economics, human rights or other relevant subjects is required.
• Meet one of the following:

1. Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
2. Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);
3. Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within a two-year period of graduation; or
4. Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program which is part of a degree programme and undertake the internship as part of the program requirements.

Language:

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.

Renumeration:

Interns who are not in receipt of financial support from other sources such as universities or other institutions will receive a stipend from UN Women to partially subsidize their basic living costs for the duration of the internship.

Application Information:

• All applicants must submit a completed and signed P.11 form with their application.
• Due to the high volume of applications received, UN Women can ONLY contact successful candidates.
• The successful candidate will be required to provide proof of enrollment in a valid health insurance plan at the duty station of the internship, proof of school enrollment or degree, a scanned copy of their passport/national ID and a copy of a valid visa (as applicable).

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.  All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (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.)