6 month Internship with Europe & Central Asia Regional Office Partnerships Section to support Private sector engagement

Contract

This is a Internship contract. It usually requires 0 years of experience, depending on education. More about Internship contracts.

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, hope

The scale and nature of the child rights challenges that UNICEF will need to address in the New Strategic Plan 2022-2025 (New SP) requires business to be involved to support programming efforts and instrumental to achieve results for children. Business impacts children as a provider of goods and services, as an employer affecting parents and caregivers of hundreds of millions of children; as an influencer of social norms, as an investor, and as an architect of innovation, essential to bridge the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) gaps.

Therefore, business engagement has been integrated into the New SP and linked to achieving UNICEF Programme goals, as well as the longer-term SDGs. Business Engagement is an umbrella term referring to any type of interaction with the Private Sector. Engagement may be pursued for different objectives related to UNICEF programmatic work, using different modalities of engagement. These objectives would include:

1. Mobilizing financial resources
2. Mobilizing business innovation, expertise, and other core assets
3. Influencing business policies and practices as well as national policies and legislation addressing business practices
4. Advocating and raising awareness for policies or practices related to children’s rights.

Among the Business Engagement Priorities for Europe and Central Asia (ECA) 2022 – 2025, we will be

1. Supporting ECA Country Offices (COs) to operationalize Business Engagement in their markets
2. Scaling up Partnerships to achieve Multi Country Partnerships

This requires generating research that can be used operationally by COs and the RO to plan business engagement: primarily, the mapping of the key business sectors. As a product of the country business mapping, prospects for multi-country partnerships will be identified and partnerships will be pursued for business engagement to achieve at scale results for children, using the most appropriate combination of modalities and objectives, which suit both the prospect and UNICEF. This will require the active support of the regional Programme team to generate proposals (Financial and Non-Financial modalities) to achieve results for children.

Beyond their inherent scale – which has proven critical for success in business engagement – these Multi-Country Partnerships will also serve as a capacity building opportunity across the region, both for partnership and Programme colleagues at both CO & RO levels.

How can you make a difference?

We are seeking a motivated individual who would like to join the team and help complete the mapping for the key 12 business sectors across the region, help identify the key scale opportunities of engagement with the private sector and work with the regional Programme team to make concrete proposal to the business prospects.

We value young talent and are looking for a dynamic professional who is a fast learner, a team player, and is proactive, resourceful, and keen to learn. This person should also have a strong passion for achieving results for children and constructive engagement with the private sector. We are a small multi-cultural team and are looking forward to getting to know you!

Main responsibilities of the intern will include but are not limited to:

Area 1 - Prospect Mapping

• Review existing mapping from Country Offices (COs), and when not available, support the mapping of the core industrial sectors (ca. 7 sectors will remain to be mapped) relevant for our work. This should cover most of ECA 22 COs. Work will be sequenced to ensure critical COs are done.
• Support in analysing CO mapping to establish Multi-Country opportunities (pospects relevant in several COs of the ECA region).

Area 2 – Prioritization, Stakeholder Mapping and Regional Pipeline build

• Support the groundwork to build the strategy, prioritizing the prospect with highest financial or non-financial potential to support UNICEF in the region
• Clarify the main UNICEF contact for the prospect (e.g., Natcom, CO) and the potential programmatic fit by reviewing the prospect data on locations and sustainability focus
• Request due diligence to UNICEF Corporate research unit (PASS section)

Area 3 – Outreach, Pitch preparation, Pitch contribution – If time and capacity allow

• Engage internally with the UNICEF designated contacts for a prospect when due diligence is positive
• Act as liaison with ECA Programme teams to prepare pitch materials
• Attend when possible (Virtual) the meeting with prospect

Supervision

The intern will work under the guidance and supervision of the Senior Adviser, Private Sector Fundraising and Partnerships in accordance with the standards, norms, and procedures of UNICEF.

Condition of service:

The intern will work full-time whenever possible, at the UNICEF ECARO Geneva Office or remotely, for a period of 6 months. Students based in Geneva for their studies may have an option to work part-time. The total duration of the internship cannot exceed 6 months on a full-time basis. Foreign students based in Geneva who are in possession of permit B, if selected for the internship will need to obtain permission from the OCPM once the offer letter is issued.

The intern will receive a monthly stipend in lines with UNICEF policies and may take up to 2.5 days per month of leave (prorated for part-time internships) for any reason, including for medical reasons. The stipend will be reduced for any absence beyond this quota.

The selected intern needs to be able to fund their travel and living expenses at the duty station during the internship and have proof of medical insurance covering their time at the duty station. UNICEF accepts no responsibility for the medical insurance of the intern or costs arising from accidents and illness incurred during the internship. Therefore, the selected candidate must provide proof of medical insurance. If office based in Geneva, the intern will need proof of enrollment in a health/accident plan with coverage in Switzerland prior to starting his/her internship. Switzerland-based interns are subject to Swiss Law on Medical Insurance (LAMal) and will be required to enroll into a Swiss insurance under LAMal scheme as soon as they receive their Legitimation Card or to request an exemption from LAMal office provided that their insurance is equivalent to or has a better coverage than an insurance under LAMal scheme. More details will be communicated to a selected candidate in due time.

The selected intern will be requested to complete online mandatory courses prior to commencement of the internship.

An internship may be terminated by either party, normally with a notice period of at least two weeks. Earlier departure may be agreed but no stipend will be paid for the part of the notice that is not worked.

The intern is personally responsible for obtaining the necessary visa for Switzerland if required. However, UNICEF can issue a letter to support the visa application for the selected intern.

Travel costs to and from the duty station for interns who are not based in Switzerland can be reimbursed up to USD$1,000 according to UNICEF's guidelines. Interns are responsible for obtaining the necessary entry visa and arranging their travel to Geneva. UNICEF will assist only in issuing documents required in visa processing (Note Verbale).

The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment with UNICEF but to complement an intern's studies. Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship.

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

• Currently be enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree or have graduated within the past two years in international relations, political or social sciences, human rights, sustainability, communications, or related fields.
• Be at least 18 years old.
• Demonstrate excellent academic performance through recent university or institution records. Additional consideration will be given to any past professional experience.
• Have fluency in English (required) and working proficiency of Russian (highly advantageous).
• Have knowledge of MS Office (required) and good management of Zoom, MS Teams, SharePoint platforms and other document and webpage layout and design tools desired.
• 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 which the intern will report to.

Skills and competencies:

• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Be proactive and resourceful.
• Be action-orientated, driven to achieve results.
• Be a great team player.
• Have a hands-on, innovative approach to problem solving and able to see new, creative ways around obstacles.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles 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.

HOW TO APPLY

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online, duly complete the online profile and submit the following documents:

• Cover Letter stating availability and motivation
• Recent university or institution records certificate (or a reference letter from the academic supervisor confirming a strong performance should the records certificate not be available at this stage); CV or duly completed online application profile
• Sample of your written work in English (can be in the context of your studies or outside of it)

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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