Internship - Digital Transformation and FUT Tourism Project

Contract

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

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture.

Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally

encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual

harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous

reference and background checks.

Background

UNDP works in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean to create an enabling environment where national

governments have the capacities for inclusive and sustainable human development; meet their regional

commitments, and internationally agreed goals including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UNDP’s presence in Barbados is a Multi-Country Office that covers the Eastern Caribbean, including

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Commonwealth of Dominica,

Grenada, Monserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Coronavirus has triggered a global pandemic and left in its wake a socio-economic crisis of an

unprecedented magnitude. The recently launched UNDP Human Development Report, indicates that

human development is on course to decline this year for the first time since 1990. Estimates from the

International Labour Organization indicate that the Caribbean region has already lost over 60,000 jobs

due to the impact of COVID-19.

Since the first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the Eastern Caribbean countries during the second

week of March 2020, the pandemic and its mobility restrictions have had severe negative impacts on

people’s livelihoods and businesses in all the countries. Global estimates show an equivalent of 400

million full-time jobs lost during the second quarter of 2020, with disproportionate impacts in Small Island Developing Countries (SIDS) which are highly dependent on tourism and extremely vulnerable to external shocks and natural hazards. In particular, COVID-19 has had negative impacts on women working and operating businesses in the tourism, and wholesale and retail industry, with many losing their livelihoods or unable to continue business operations. Across the world, women make up most workers in the tourism industry, though they tend to be clustered in low-skilled jobs. Women constitute more than half of those employed in the accommodation and food services sectors – the core tourism-related economic activities – in 20 out of 28 SIDS for which data are available (UNCTAD, 2020). UNDP Barbados Multi-Country Office has been a key player in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean providing support to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in promoting and implementing projects that increase the adaptability and resilience of both the island and the people to the impacts of climate change and other shocks. Digital technologies have been at the forefront of driving solutions in the context of COVID-19 and building resilience for the future. As part of UNDP's SIDS offer, UNDP is supporting SIDS in catalysing digital transformation. Small island developing states have the potential to become incubators of innovation, advancing technological solutions with the possibility to be replicated and scaled up and to drive transformative change. In this context, we are looking for an Intern to help us push the boundaries of what education can offer through the power of experience and technology. The selected candidate will provide support in two main areas. On the one side, she/he will provide support to the Policy Specialist on the Digital Transformation portfolio in the region, in particular with respect to catalyzing digital innovation for the Future Tourism project. On the other side, the selected candidate will equally support the implementation of the Future Tourism Project.

Duties and Responsibilities

Working directly with the Project Manager of the Future Tourism project and the SIDS Digital Transformation Specialists in the UNDP Barbados and Eastern Caribbean multi-country office, the intern will support knowledge management and implementation tasks to provide:

• Research and outreach to provide up-to-date inputs on remote work initiatives in Barbados and Eastern Caribbean
• Research and outreach to provide up-to-date inputs on digital innovation initiatives in Barbados and Eastern Caribbean, in particular those with potential linkages to the tourism sector
• Research to provide up-to-date inputs on tourism activities in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean
• Support to knowledge sharing and communications regarding tourism innovation projects
• Provide support to promote MCO activities via social media
• Provide support to project staff for the coordination of meetings
• Provide support to the implementation of project activities within the MCO
• Secretariat support to projects
• Additional tasks as needed

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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.

Functional competencies:

• Passionate about regional issues;
• Strong organizational, analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
• Results driven, able to meet targets/deadlines;
• Capacity to plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time;
• Creative thinking ability;
• Eagerness to learn and work with various clusters;
• Highly organized and an ability to work independently;
• Excellent analytical, writing and communication skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Be enrolled in or within one year of graduation from a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher) in international relations or development, tourism, business, technology, public policy or related field.
• Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum bachelor’s level or equivalent).
• Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Experience:

• Work experience is not a requirement for the internship; however:
• Work experience or research background on regional development issues in Eastern Caribbean or elsewhere is an asset;
• Engagement or knowledge of technology and digital innovation and tourism in Eastern Caribbean is an asset;
• Experience engaging in or with private sector /social enterprise experiences is an asset;
• Some experience in strategic communication and/or social media is desirable;
• Knowledge of United Nations System is desirable;
• An understanding of development issues pertaining to small Islands is an advantage;
• Demonstrated research and ability to extract and compile information based on research undertaken as part of University coursework or outside work;
• Solid IT and social/digital skills and knowledge including social media applications and Microsoft suite is an asset.

Language:

• Written and spoken proficiency in English is a prerequisite.

General Internships Terms & Conditions:

• The Internship programme is governed by the UNDP Internship policy framework & rules.
• Under the new revised UNDP internship policy, UNDP will provide a modest monthly internship stipend to its interns.
• UNDP interns accrue leave at a rate of 1.5 days per month;
• Selected Interns must be able to share proof of education enrolment and/ or graduation, medical/ health and life/accident insurance, valid for the location in which the internship will be carried out and be able to provide insurance documentary proof at the time of their selection;
• There is no expectation of employment at the end of these internships.
• UNDP is not responsible for any claims by an intern or third party in the case of loss or damage to property or death or personal injury as a result of actions or omissions on the part of the intern during the internship period.

Working conditions:

• Since this is a home-based internship, no computer or working space will be provided

Learning and Development:

This internship will provide a learning and development experience in the following areas:

• Effective Communication – written and verbal communiques, public speaking, presentations
• Project Management: working with teams across the agency with various deadlines
• Regional development issues
• Social Media Marketing and Promotions
• Research

Application process:

• In your application, please (i) state in one paragraph why you would like to be considered for the internship, and (ii) indicate your preferred start and end date, as well as your availability timeframe in 2021.