Sustainable Procurement Intern (with focus on Communications)

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 comprises 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 supporting the building up and management of the organisational readiness of UNOPS and therefore supports the implementation of the UNOPS global portfolio. Last, the IPS is hosting the corporate Knowledge Management initiative.

Background Information - Job-specific

Background Information - PG

The Procurement Group (PG) is part of Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) and is based at UNOPS HQ in Copenhagen. It leads the organization’s procurement practice and is responsible for: articulating strategy, policy positions and innovative solutions for procurement at UNOPS; enabling the operationalization and managerial oversight of UNOPS procurement activities through appropriate systems and reports; strengthening the knowledge, skills and career development of procurement practitioners; and leading the implementation of Sustainable Procurement across the organization.

As a central procurement resource for the United Nations system and its partners, UNOPS emphasizes efficient, transparent, cost-effective and sustainable delivery of goods, services and works, in line with public procurement best practices. On a yearly basis, UNOPS procures over USD 1 Bn worth of goods, services and works on behalf of our partners. These include a broad base of categories, including life-saving pharmaceuticals, mine action equipment, vehicles or road construction services.

Since 2015, UNOPS has been a leader in sustainable procurement, receiving awards such as the Gold Certificate in Sustainable Procurement from CIPS and has implemented best practices in procurement including on procurement policy, ethics and fraud prevention, e-Procurement, and business intelligence and procurement advisory services.

Functional Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Sustainable Procurement Senior Analyst, the Sustainable Procurement Intern will be responsible for supporting a variety of tasks and work packages, including the implementation of the UNOPS Sustainable Procurement Framework as part of his/her internship period. We are seeking a motivated and passionate individual who may have a background in communications or a related function, with some working knowledge of sustainability or sustainable procurement desirable.

However, as internships are designed to be valuable learning experiences, previous work experience is not a requirement.

Some of the specific tasks may include, but are not limited to:

1. Communication, Capacity building & Advocacy: Support the sustainable procurement team with the internal and external communication of how sustainable

procurement is being successfully implemented in the projects and operations, this may include:

• Publishing of Sustainable Procurement content on relevant platforms, including blog posts and quarterly digests, factsheets and other materials;
• Support the drafting of sustainable procurement capacity building materials
• Writing up of case studies and best practises
• Writing storyline to develop into animated videos.
• Support with outreach activities (event planning) and awareness campaigns at targeted country offices.

2. Data analysis and Reporting: Support with the development of reports, and key conclusions from the analysis of the sustainable procurement data:

• Support in data collection and market research on existing, new and innovative trends on sustainability
• Conduct literature and desktop reviewing of different sustainability themes
• Support the development of regular communications for internal and external audiences

3. Team Support Provide support to the various efforts that the sustainable procurement team are working on and with incoming demands, this may include:

• Support event planning efforts through webinars, workshops, intranet updates, translation of training materials, as well as the monitoring of different team email inboxes.
• Support intranet content updates
• Support in building communication templates for supplier engagements
• Support the management of different team email inboxes
• Support in the harmonization of all Sustainable Procurement team presentations
• Support the coordination of the document management system
• Support in the continued review and improvement of the sustainable procurement criteria list

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

• Exposure to and experience in procurement at the corporate level, core function within UNOPS;

• Exposure to sustainable procurement in the context of development and public procurement;

• Exposure to an international multicultural work environment and team;
• Exposure to headquarters and country offices.

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 or have graduated in the past three years in the following areas: Communication, Journalism, Social Science, or other relevant discipline

Work Experience

• Strong computer literacy is required and may include skills such as: Advanced Excel / Google Sheet skills, advanced Powerpoint / Google Slides skills, advanced Word / Google Docs skills and video editing using relevant software.
• While no prior work experience is required, some experience in communication, journalism, sustainability or corporate social responsibility, is highly desirable.
• Competency in content development/storytelling/drafting is highly desirable
• Knowledge of supplier / vendor management, Sustainable Procurement Principles, diversity and inclusion and public procurement is desirable

• Working knowledge of procurement or supply chain and data analytics is desirable

• Experience in using and creating dashboards in visualization tools such as Google Sheets / Google Data Studio, PowerBI or Tableau is an asset.

Language skills

• Fluency in English is a requirement.
• Fluency in French is highly desirable.
• Knowledge of another UN language such as Spanish, Russian, Chinese or Arabic will be considered an asset.

IMPORTANT: It is highly encouraged that applicants submit a Cover Letter with their CV that outlines their motivation for participating in this internship.

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. For people managers only: Acts as positive leadership role model, motivates, directs and inspires others to succeed, utilizing appropriate leadership styles. 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.

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 and candidates from the Global South 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 lifestyle environment with multiple opportunities for networking and 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. IPS is keen on strengthening diversity in the team with a current focus on gender equality and geographic diversity. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. 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, and as such both national and international candidates are eligible for HQ-based positions. UNOPS officials are exempt from Danish taxes on UN incomes. EU citizens may opt to be registered with the Danish State Administration as 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 public Danish health insurance or special health card depending on their choice of registration, while the non-EU citizens will be registered by UNOPS under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.*

Contract type, level and duration - Internship

Contract type: Internship Contract level: N/A Contract duration: 6 months

This internship is not designed to lead to a staff position with UNOPS. Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of the internship.

Interns may be eligible for a monthly stipend from UNOPS provided that they do not receive funds from other institutions. Further, UNOPS may provide a one time travel lumpsum of 500 USD. However, they must make their own arrangements for accommodation, travel and necessary visa arrangements.

For more details about UNOPS internships please follow this link: https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Internships-and-volunteering.aspx