Green Commodities Programme (GCP) Support Intern - Home Based

Contract

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

Background

Corporate Background UNDP works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results. UNDP is working to strengthen new frameworks for development, disaster risk reduction and climate change. We support countries' efforts to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals, which will guide global development priorities through 2030. The key 2030 Agenda principle of leaving no one behind and stamping out inequality is at the core of everything we do. UNDP focuses on helping countries build and share solutions in three main areas: • Sustainable development • Democratic governance and peacebuilding • Climate and disaster resilience In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women, minorities and the poorest and most vulnerable.

Internship Office Background Most commodity sectors in developing countries are afflicted by poor production practices that lead to increasing pressure on ecosystems and fail to improve the livelihoods of rural communities. Poor production practices lead to negative environmental impacts such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, carbon emissions, soil erosion, depletion of water resources and contamination from chemicals. In fact, the largest driver of deforestation is the production of agricultural commodities. On the social side, working conditions in commodity production are often not in line with basic labor rights. Despite recent commodity booms, small producers are held in poverty, mostly due to low productivity and product quality.

Despite the progress made through standards and supply-chain initiatives, weaknesses in the underlying enabling environment limit change at a larger scale. An effective enabling environment consists of elements such as clear public policies, a well-functioning legal framework, clarity regarding land-use planning, effective enforcement mechanisms, accessible credit structures, and effective farmer extension services. As a result of the absence of these elements, work on commodity sustainability remains less effective than it could be, and costlier and more time-consuming than it should be. Improving the enabling environments will increase the chances of sector-wide change to sustainable production practices.

UNDP established the Green Commodity Programme (GCP) in 2009 in recognition of the importance of global agricultural commodities and how they contribute to economic, social and environmental sustainability and the need to strengthen UNDP’s support and leadership in the field. GCP was initiated with seed funding from the UNDP and was tasked to evolve into a global programme supporting UNDP’s Strategic Plan, building on almost a decade of GEF supported projects mainstreaming ecosystem services into productive landscapes. GCP’s global targets, objectives and delivery strategies are based on inclusive and sustainable growth and development – combining governments and markets in agriculture through public private-partnerships and democratic dialogue processes. GCP’s focus on strengthening the livelihoods of smallholder producers within commodity supply chains and reducing environmental footprints, particularly deforestation, through public-private partnerships can be key for UNDP’s ambitions to reduce poverty, reduce deforestation and engage the private sector in SDGs.

The Green Commodities Programme exists to improve the national economic, social and environmental performance of agricultural commodity sectors. GCP works within agricultural commodity production in countries of UNDP operation where the programme can have significant impact on rural livelihoods, mitigate climate change, and maintain the ecosystem services and resilience of landscapes and seascapes. The GCP has pioneered the concept of National Commodity Platforms to help governments facilitate shared visions and actions for sustainable commodity production among key stakeholders, and lately it has updated its approach on Effective Collaborative Action to adapt to diverse contexts and levels. GCP operates in over 10 countries globally. GCP is able to leverage a large portfolio also thanks to financing coming from key partners such as the Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), supporting sustainability efforts and multiplier effects of the work implemented by the Green Commodities Programme. This includes efforts to support sustainable palm oil production and multi-stakeholder processes in Indonesia and sustainable cacao production and multi-stakeholder processes in Peru. In addition, SECO and GCP collaboration led to the development of tools and guidance, and the facilitation of learning spaces at the global level on multistakeholder collaboration, building on learnings from national and landscape GCP projects. SECO and GCP have been collaborating for more than six years now, with the objective of facilitating sustainable commodity production and trade through multi-stakeholder collaboration for systemic change.

GCP is also coordinating the Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded Good Growth Partnership (GGP) Programme, an integrated “supply chain” approach to tackling the underlying root causes of deforestation from agriculture commodities, specifically beef, oil palm, and soy, which together account for nearly 70% of deforestation globally. The GGP Programme is delivered through a multi-agency consortium including WWF, IFC, UNEP, and CI. The Programme provides support to production, generate responsible demand, support enabling transactions and foster adaptive management and learning through multiple child projects. UNDP GCP is implementing the production project within the GGP which includes global support and activities in three target countries (Paraguay, Liberia and Indonesia), as well as the Adaptive Management & Learning project (in partnership with WWF) focusing on programme level coordination, knowledge management, community of practice development, communication and partnerships.

Working with a full range of stakeholders, from small-scale producers to national governments and global corporations, the GGP promotes a holistic approach to sustainability that encompasses entire commodity supply chains and looks at where the layers of the supply chain integrate and overlap to enhance efforts for sustainably produced agricultural commodities. By combining forces, the GGP aims to provide a model of wide-scale systemic change that capitalizes on the strengths of each partner. With the pilot phase of the Good Growth Partnership programme coming to an end in 2022, UNDP GCP and GGP partners are currently looking at conceptualizing and mobilizing resources for a next phase of the Partnership to further promote a sustainable transformation of the sector. Following this same approach, the GEF has launched the Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) Impact Programme, consisting of projects in more than 25 countries, and a Global Platform (Knowledge-to-Action or K2A) which builds on GGP knowledge, expertise and support. The FOLUR Impact Programme is led by the World Bank, and UNDP has a role at the global level to provide generic support through the global platform on building the capacity of Country Projects on multi-stakeholder collaboration, gender mainstreaming and private sector engagement and in eight countries to lead on project implementation. Within the Green Commodities Programme (GCP), and under the supervision of the GCP Programme Management Associate Officer and the GCP Programme Analyst, the Green Commodities Programme (GCP) Support Intern will constitute an integral part of the Programme Management team and will work to support the smooth implementation and coordination of the SECO, GGP and FOLUR programmes.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities Main tasks: Support to the SECO, GGP and FOLUR programmes in: - Organizing calls, taking minutes of these calls with key actions needed and following up on necessary actions as applicable; - Support in meetings including scheduling, agenda drafting, delivery, minutes taking and report drafting; - Support in maintaining all project management documents in a shared repository; - Assist in other project management tasks and support project team members, as and when needed; - Assist in preparing and reviewing presentations, briefing notes, reports and other supporting materials; - Assist in coordination with GCP colleagues, country teams and partners, including scheduling calls and gathering information when needed; - Assist on monitoring and reporting as needed; - Support the implementation of the resources mobilization strategy for GCP and GGP next phase; - Conduct research on partners, initiatives and donors as and when needed; - Support the organization of events/workshops as needed; - Assist in the roll out of the Effective Collaborative Action methodology as needed; - Support internal communication needs and ensure flow of information and dissemination of material amongst project team and partners as needed; - Data collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation in flowcharts, tables or slides; - Translation, proof reading and editing of documents; - Any other relevant tasks as needed related to SECO, GGP and FOLUR projects.

Competencies

Competencies and Skills Competencies: - Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards; - Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP; - Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; - Treats all people fairly without favoritism; - Interest and motivation in working in an international organization; - Mastery of MS Office package and Zoom settings; - Excellent writing and editing skills; - Interest in knowledge management; - Experience in programme management support and coordination is an advantage; - Experience in the preparation of (virtual) events and workshop is an asset. Personal Skills: - Creative, proactive and supportive; - Able to take initiative and work independently; - Good in organizing and structuring various tasks and responsibilities with appropriate time management and attention to details; - Ability to work in team, creating a positive environment; - Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; - Excellent organizational, inter-personal, communication and administrative skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Requirements and Qualifications Education: (a) Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor level or equivalent) in a relevant study area, such as environmental management, agriculture, sustainable development, economics, global development, social or political sciences, international relations, or any other related field. or

(b) Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher) such as environmental management, agriculture, sustainable development, economics, global development, social or political sciences, international relations, or any other related field.

(c) Have recently graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) as environmental management, agriculture, sustainable development, economics, global development, social or political sciences, international relations, or any other related field and. If selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Experience: Mastery of MS Office package and Zoom settings; Excellent communication, writing and editing skills; Experience in data collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation; Experience in programme management support and coordination is an advantage; Experience with monitoring and reporting is an advantage; Experience in the preparation of (virtual) events and workshop is an asset.

Language Requirements: Fluent English and Spanish. Knowledge of Portuguese, French or Bahasa in an advantage.

Internship Conditions All internships should be on a full teleworking/ telecommuting basis until further notice. (Remote Internship / Home Based). As of January 1 2020, Interns may be given a stipend according to the UNDP Internship Policies, if is not financially supported by any institution or programme, such as a university, government, foundation or scholarship programme,

•UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship; •Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to, any post in UNDP during the period of the internship; •Interns must provide proof of enrolment in Health Insurance Plan valid for the location, and the duration of the internship. •Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity; •Interns are expected to work full time, but flexibility is allowed for education programmes; •UNDP only accepts interns for a minimum of 6 weeks and a maximum of 6 months; •Interns are responsible for obtaining necessary visas, arranging travel, accommodation.