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.

The Spotlight Initiative, launched in 2017, is a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and United Nations. With a seed funding of €500 million from the European Union, the Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort on ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG). The Initiative is addressing legislative and policy gaps, strengthening institutions, promoting gender-equitable attitudes, provides quality services for survivors, collects data on violence against women and girls and empower women’s movements. The Spotlight Initiative has deployed targeted, large-scale investments in more than twenty-five countries across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific.

The Initiative is supported by a Secretariat to ensure coherence, alignment, quality, and strong technical support. The Spotlight Initiative Secretariat responds to requests for support and assistance to: provide key technical support and guidance in development and implementation of country programmes, collaborate with and provide support to technical officers of UN Agencies at country and regional levels to guarantee the technical quality and coherence of the Initiative, regularly brief and consult all relevant UN Agencies, serve as a liaison to civil society at the global level to build partnerships and ensure inclusion, ensure timely deployment of technical capacity to country programmes as needed, provide ongoing monitoring support, coordinate the evaluation of programmes, ensure public information, communication and visibility for the Initiative, and critically, conduct robust analysis, management and dissemination of the wealth of knowledge, promising practices and lessons learned from Spotlight Initiative programmes at country, regional and global levels.

The Spotlight Initiative Secretariat is seeking an Intern to provide support to the Spotlight Initiative High-Impact Programme for Violence Elimination (HIVE project). Primarily, the intern will contribute to knowledge management and capacity development activities as well as communication. The Intern will also support with data analysis across different projects of the Secretariat. This role offers hands-on experience across various functions, fostering skills in collaboration, organization, and technical support.

Description of Responsibilities

The Intern will be responsible for assisting with work under all units of the Spotlight Initiative Secretariat, with a focus on Knowledge Management, Capacity Development, Communications and Data Analysis.

The key tasks of the intern will include:

• Support with organising and updating document repositories, assisting in the creation of resource materials, and contributing to knowledge-sharing platforms.
• Assist in the organization of events and in drafting, editing, and publishing content for internal and external audiences, including newsletters, social media posts, and reports.
• Participate in capacity development activities, including assisting with the preparation of materials, and helping coordinate with stakeholders.
• Support with data collection and analysis to support team projects and initiatives.
• Keep abreast of developments in the area of gender equality and EVAWG.

Learning objectives:

• Increase knowledge of ending violence against women and girls, as well as women’s rights and gender equality more broadly.
• Increase understanding of and skills related to knowledge management, capacity development, communications, and technical programming on EVAWG.
• Increase understanding of the UN system, the UNDS reform principles and of the UN’s work on gender equality and ending violence against women and girls.
• Work as a team member in a multicultural setting.

Qualifications

Education:

• University studies in any discipline;
• Meet one of the following:

a) Be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme (such as a master’s programme, or higher);

b) Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (such as bachelor’s degree or equivalent);

c) Be enrolled in a mandatory national service programme of which the internship may form a part;

d) Have recently graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within two-years of graduation.

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, we can ONLY contact successful candidates.
• 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).

Competencies:

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

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 Values and Competencies Framework:

Statements:

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.

Diversity and inclusion:

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.)

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements