Communications Intern

Contract

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

Background Information - UNOPS

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Background information - Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS)

Within UNOPS, Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) is responsible for the UNOPS delivery practices. IPS provides thought leadership, standards and oversight as support to the successful delivery of programmes and projects within UNOPS service lines (infrastructure, procurement, project management, human resources and financial management services).

IPS is comprised of the Infrastructure and Project Management Group and the Procurement Group which aims to reduce organizational risks, improve project performance, and promote excellence across UNOPS projects through the Standards Management Framework; and provides organisational oversight on the application of standards. These Groups also support the positioning of UNOPS in the UN system and development sector in Infrastructure, Project Management and Procurement.

In addition, the Portfolio Support unit aims at managing aspects of the organisational readiness of UNOPS and therefore support the implementation of the UNOPS global portfolio. It also provides support services to the Implementation Practices and Standards function. Last, the IPS is hosting the corporate Knowledge Management initiative.

Background information - Portfolio Support

Portfolio Support (PSU) is a business unit within the Implementation Practices and Standards function which aims at (a) managing aspects of the organisational readiness of UNOPS, and (b) providing support to the IPS operations.

Organisational Readiness

The PSU supports the UNOPS global portfolio by managing the corporate retainer pool and other partnerships to supplement existing UNOPS resources.The UNOPS organisational readiness shall be aligned with the identified needs of the regional portfolios.

Support to IPS operations

Portfolio Support provides timely support to IPS on operational aspects and takes a coordination function in the areas of Human Resources (HR), general Administration, Communication, Finance and Procurement by working in close relationship with other Headquarter (HQ) units, notably the Shared Services Center (SSC). The PSU also manages the Project of the Year Award (POTYA) which recognizes excellence in project management.

Background Information - Job-specific

Under the overall management of the Portfolio Support Manager and direct supervision of the Communications Officer, the Communications Intern will have a primary focus on supporting communication activities, in addition to providing overall support to the services provided by the PS unit. S/he will also promote a client-oriented approach to deliver high-quality support services.

The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting a variety of tasks and work packages as a part of her/his internship period. We are seeking qualified applicants who have strong communication skills and capacity in desktop publishing software and/or website management. The successful candidate must be client/service-oriented as well as structured, organized and detail-oriented. In addition, the incumbent is expected to demonstrate willingness and ability to learn all online tools managed by IPS, provide guidance and assistance as required to IPS personnel and overall continually improve required technical skills under the guidance of the Communications Officer. The incumbent’s support will be focused on, but not limited to, communication activities.

One flagship project to be delivered under this internship is the internal award called the ‘Project of the year award’ (POTYA). It is an exciting corporate award which is celebrating the best project management practices and projects which have great impact on the beneficiaries, and get the PS team to exchange a lot with the country offices and field project teams - which would provide the PS Intern with a fair insight of UNOPS activities across the world. A second important aspect for this internship is to develop new solutions to improve how PS delivers support services to IPS; this could include the development of dashboards, the improvement of intranet content and the production of multimedia and other communications content for different projects and corporate initiatives, which would provide the PS Intern a great chance to use and improve his/her technical skills. Depending on the successful candidate’s interests, s/he may be exposed to other support services (than communication) as wished.

At the end of this internship, the successful candidate will have gained in:

• Exposure to UNOPS project management, infrastructure and procurement corporate standards and activities;
• Exposure to the Support Services area, which is a core function within UNOPS (ultimately leading to Head of Support Services career path);
• Specific experience in communications at the corporate level, another core function within UNOPS (ultimately leading to Communication Advisor career path);
• Exposure to an international work environment;
• Exposure to headquarters.

The internship is expected to start in March 2021 for a duration of 6 months.

Functional Responsibilities

Overall support to a variety of tasks and work packages in the area of support services, more specifically communications, in alignment with the IPS annual work plan:

1. Communications support and content management

• Support the compliance of IPS to the corporate communication strategy and branding by editing specific documents to align them with UNOPS branding; Support the implementation of IPS content and publications roll out strategy, specifically the communication and dissemination, for products developed by IPS;
• Provide support to the translation of content, and other larger translation exercises, including review of translation as requested;
• Support knowledge sharing and the maintenance of the Content Management System in IPS;
• Assist in maintaining and updating the IPS workspace with the most recent information;
• Support the identification of areas for the improvement and development of IPS workspace with new case studies, UNOPS best practices;
• Support the collection of information and drafting of articles, presentations, emails and other communication on infrastructure and PM practices and tools to share with the organization through available channels;
• Support the editing and publishing of IPS content, including blog posts, factsheets, posters, videos and other materials for print and electronic publication;
• Support the strategic planning of communication campaigns for UN international days and other corporate initiatives;
• Assist in the monitoring and evaluation of IPS communication content, including the preparation of quarterly intranet reviews and monthly analytics reports;
• Support the setup of web conferencing and other online collaborative workspaces as requested.

1. Support to communications-related work packages and initiatives

• Support the organization of the Project of the Year Award, including but not limited to support to the nomination and evaluation process, template design, communication material development, including video development and editing;
• Provide support to UNOPS Town Halls, Knowledge Share Fairs and other corporate initiatives involving IPS products and initiatives.

Competencies

Treats all individuals with respect; responds sensitively to differences and encourages others to do the same. Upholds organizational and ethical norms. Maintains high standards of trustworthiness. Role model for diversity and inclusion.

Acts as a positive role model contributing to the team spirit. Collaborates and supports the development of others. Demonstrates understanding of the impact of own role on all partners and always puts the end beneficiary first. Builds and maintains strong external relationships and is a competent partner for others (if relevant to the role). Efficiently establishes an appropriate course of action for self and/or others to accomplish a goal. Actions lead to total task accomplishment through concern for quality in all areas. Sees opportunities and takes the initiative to act on them. Understands that responsible use of resources maximizes our impact on our beneficiaries. Open to change and flexible in a fast paced environment. Effectively adapts own approach to suit changing circumstances or requirements. Reflects on experiences and modifies own behavior. Performance is consistent, even under pressure. Always pursues continuous improvements. Evaluates data and courses of action to reach logical, pragmatic decisions. Takes an unbiased, rational approach with calculated risks. Applies innovation and creativity to problem-solving. Expresses ideas or facts in a clear, concise and open manner. Communication indicates a consideration for the feelings and needs of others. Actively listens and proactively shares knowledge. Handles conflict effectively, by overcoming differences of opinion and finding common ground.

Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education

Completion of secondary school or equivalent is required.

To be eligible for this particular internship with UNOPS, the candidate must be studying towards a university degree in communications, journalism or other relevant discipline, or have graduated with a relevant university degree in the past three years.

Experience

While no prior work experience is required, some experience in support services, communications, desktop publication, web content management or journalism, ideally within the development sector, is highly desirable.

Additional requirements

• Excellent communications skills, especially English writing skills and copy editing, is required;
• Strong technical skills and experience working with Google Suite and desktop publishing software (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite including Photoshop and InDesign) is required;
• Experience with online communications, social media and video editing (e.g. Premiere Pro) is an asset;
• Experience working with content management systems (e.g. SharePoint, Craft CMS), including metadata management, site architecture, developing workflows, and Google Analytics and Google Data Studio is an asset.

Language Fluency and proficiency in English is required. Proficiency in Arabic, French, Spanish or Portuguese is strongly desirable.

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: Intern Contract level: Intern Contract duration: 6 months (with possibility of extension)

Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Work environment:

IPS offers a unique work environment in UNOPS headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, located in the UN City building, one of Copenhagen’s landmarks. UNOPS HQ offers a safe, family-friendly environment with multiple opportunities for networking and an active lifestyle in a city known for its excellent urban design and planning. The IPS team is a diverse team in terms of age, nationalities and family situations. The team is inclusive and values social and athletic activities like team breakfast, Friday evening networking or sports such as sailing, climbing, running and squash. IPS is very dynamic and welcomes agility, autonomy and self-drive. The work of IPS is oriented towards exciting opportunities which have a corporate, global impact and is in touch with the whole of UNOPS. UNOPS has a hosting agreement with the Government of Denmark under which both national and international candidates are eligible for HQ-based positions. UNOPS officials are exempt from Danish taxes on UN incomes. EU citizens in particular may opt to be registered with the Danish State Administration as an EU migrant worker, and keep the rights associated with that status, or register through UNOPS with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. EU citizens may apply for the free public Danish health insurance or special health card depending on their choice of registration. Non-EU citizens will be registered by UNOPS under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and must purchase their own private health insurance. IPS is very respectful of the UNOPS approach to work-life balance, including flexible working hours and remote working arrangements. IPS is keen on improving diversity in the team with a current focus on gender equality and equal representation.