Onsite-Online Volunteering Pillar

Contract

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

Background

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society and volunteers at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity, and reciprocity among citizens and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for the recognition of volunteers, working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing an increasing number and diversity of volunteers, including experienced UN volunteers, throughout the world. UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement, and solidarity.

UNV engages over 12,400 UN Volunteers and 4,000 Online Volunteers annually. With an average age of 35 years of UN Volunteers and the requisite professional skills and qualifications of some with 5 to 10 years of relevant experience. The majority come from developing countries themselves. Half of the UN Volunteers served in their own countries, with the other half carrying out international assignments. The financial equivalent of programme activities exceeds US$ 235 million annually.

UNV is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and has approximately 120 staff positions – with a large presence in Bonn and some positions with different UN peacekeeping and political missions and in other Headquarters’ locations (e.g., New York and Tokyo) and Regional Offices (Nairobi, Dakar, Bangkok, Panama, Istanbul, and Amman).

The Volunteer Solutions Section (VSS) designs, develops, implements, and oversees the application of policies, procedures, onsite and online volunteer solutions and volunteer recruitment and management applications at all levels of the Volunteer Management Cycle architecture and programme development and management as well as the coordination and facilitation of communication and collaboration with Regional Offices, Field Units, and other Headquarters units.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Programme Associates within the Volunteer Solutions Section, the Intern will support the Onsite Solutions team of VSS as follows:

Management of document translations

• Compile and organize documents, standard emails, guides and other materials that need to be translated
• Translate using AI tools and recruit online volunteers to complete edits
• Upload updated translations to document repositories and systems for end users

Review and maintenance of Onsite content on the SharePoint knowledge base

• Review and analyze the content of the UN Volunteer knowledge portal;
• Design a structure to best present the information to end users;
• Reorganize knowledge pages content in line with the new design;
• Support the Programme Associates with document management, including uploading documents and ensuring links are active and up to date.

Create step-by-step guides to using UNV systems

• Build knowledge of UNV systems, key workflows, policies and processes.
• Develop step-by-step guides using UNV’s tools on key system processes, including user interface interactions, policy guidance and related instructions
• Investigate further integration of UNV guidance tools with UNV systems
• Ensure guides are incorporated into knowledge portals, SOPs and systems, as applicable

Deliverables

• Translations into Spanish and French of the key documents and emails identified
• Step-by-step instructions are removed from SOPs and replaced by stand-alone guides.
• A report on suitability of UNV guidance tools for UNV systems
• Observable improvement of knowledge portal usability and up to date content

Competencies

Competencies

• Strong interest in development cooperation and in the work of the United Nations Volunteers programme;
• Excellent oral and written communications skills;
• Analytical mindset and approach to problem solving
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is required;
• Proficiency with SharePoint or other knowledge management tools is an asset

Learning opportunities for the intern

• General understanding of the work and mission of the UNV programme, and of volunteerism’s contribution to peace and development effectiveness;
• Insight and hands-on experience in UNV’s broad range of operational and programmatic issues on volunteer management;
• Become more familiar with working in an International Organization and in a multicultural environment.
• Insight and hands-on experience in technical writing, policy, process and system analysis, and translation

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Applicants to the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) internship programme must, at the time of application, meet one of the following requirements:

• Currently enrolled or having recently graduated from a Master’s / Professional degree / academic programme in Social Sciences, Information technology, Education, Business or a related field;
• Have recently graduated with a university degree, and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation;
• Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program and undertake the internship as part of this program.

Experience:

• Familiarity with adult education or producing guidance material is desirable;
• Experience with translations is desirable;
• Familiarity with document and/or knowledge management (especially using SharePoint) is desirable
• Interest and experience in volunteering is a strong asset;
• Experience in developing countries is desirable;

Language:

• Proficiency in English is required;
• Knowledge of other official UN languages (especially French or Spanish) is a strong asset.

Conditions

• Intern will be given monthly stipend in accordance with the provisions of the UNDP Internship policy, which applicants should become familiar with prior to signing an UNDP Internship Agreement Form. Where an intern is financially supported by an institution, government or third party, UNDP will, subject to the rules of such institution, government or third party, pay the intern the difference, if any, between the external financial support provided and the applicable UNDP Stipend.
• UNDP accepts no responsibility for the medical and life insurance of the intern or costs arising from accidents and illness incurred during an internship.
• All the expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring government or institutions.
• The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment within the UN System, but to complement an intern’s studies. Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship.

Candidates who are shortlisted for an interview must submit prior to the interview the following documents:

• Official letter from the University confirming enrollment in a graduate-level degree programme.

Only a successful candidate will be required to submit the following documents:

• A copy of the applicant’s most recent resume or curriculum vitae.
• A letter from his/her university confirming current enrollment and graduation date.
• A copy of his/her school transcript.
• A letter of recommendation from a professor.
• A signed UNDP Internship Agreement.
• A Medical Certificate of Good Health.
• Proof of medical insurance including provision for medical evacuation and removal of mortal remains or life insurance.
• Copy of passport and working visa for Germany