Women’s Economic Empowerment Intern

Contract

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

Background

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Through the regional office for Asia and the Pacific based in Bangkok and a number of country and multi-country offices, UN Women builds on a long history of support to governments and women’s movements. UN Women’s programs in Asia and the Pacific focus on ending violence against women, humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction, women’s economic empowerment, CEDAW and women’s human rights, peace and security, governance and HIV/AIDS. For more information about UN Women in Asia and the Pacific, visit the official website.

WeEmpowerAsia

This position will round out the EU-funded WeEmpowerAsia (WEA) programme, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP), a collaborative effort between the Regional Office of UN Women for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) and the European Union (EU), which is funding the programme under its Partnership Instrument. With this programme, the two entities will leverage their joint commitment to enhance women’s economic empowerment globally. They each have longstanding experience and partnerships in the Asian region. UN Women will apply its triple mandate of normative, operational and coordination actions and use its convening power to bring multiple stakeholders together for effective collaboration. EU brings valuable private and public sector partnerships across sectors as well as its solid expertise in trade and economic development.

The overall objective of the WEA programme is that more women lead, participate and have access to enhanced business opportunities and leadership within the private sector to advance sustainable and inclusive growth. The programme will achieve this through three complementary outcome areas to be implemented in seven selected middle-income countries of Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam) in Asia:

• ADVOCACY: Women’s networks, public institutions, and the private sector will collaborate and share expertise and knowledge to build an enabling business environment for women’s economic empowerment in the workplace and in the marketplace;
• ENTREPRENEURSHIP: The capacity of women-owned businesses and women entrepreneurs will be developed to enable them to engage with government and private sector corporations in policy development and dialogues for advancing women’s economic empowerment, and;
• BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT: The private sector will be supported to implement gender-sensitive practices and culture within their businesses through the take-up of the Women Empowerment Principles (the WEPs – a set of guiding principles to achieve gender equality within companies).

Ultimately, the programme will contribute to the achievement of gender equality through enabling women’s increased participation in the labour force and in the marketplace, improved opportunities for women entrepreneurship and business start-ups, and through strengthening of corporate sector’s commitment and action to ensure gender equality in business culture and practices.

WE RISE Together

Following the end of the WeEmpowerAsia Programme in June, this position will transition to cover WE RISE Together, a three-year Mekong-Australia Partnership (MAP) project developed by UN Women. It sits under MAP’s Economic Resilience Fund (MAP-ERF) and addresses its four drivers of resilience (including macroeconomic, household, business, and government resilience). The project responds to the prioritisation of women’s economic empowerment by expanding market access for Women-owned Businesses (WOBs) and Gender Responsive Enterprises (GREs) through procurement opportunities.

WE RISE Together tackles the structural gender inequities that exist within the global procurement market in which WOBs secure only one per cent of spending worldwide. By introducing and advancing increased market access through gender-responsive procurement (GRP), WE RISE Together operates with the overall objective to empower more women to equally access, lead, and benefit from expanded market opportunities in the Mekong subregion.

The project works across the Mekong subregion, namely in Thailand and Viet Nam, where the concept of GRP is still in nascent stages of development. Despite regional and national initiatives prioritising financial inclusion of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), there is currently a limited amount of gender-sensitive data available to promote GRP practices and policies in the project’s geographical focus areas.

As such, WE RISE Together will introduce GRP as an opportunity to address and attempt to channel more procurement spend towards WOBs /GREs. The project will work on four interlinked outcomes:

• Outcome 1: More national public and private organizations are engaged in an increased number of processes and actions to influence and develop public policies and practises that promote gender-responsive procurement as a pathway for women’s economic participation. (Normative Change in the Ecosystem)
• Outcome 2: WOBs/GREs have increased capacity to build more resilient and inclusive business models and utilise networking opportunities to better access markets. (Strengthening the Supply Side)
• Outcome 3: Larger public and private sector organisations have increased capacity to advocate, promote and implement GRP within their organisations and industries to enable market access for WOBs/GREs. (Strengthening the Demand Side)
• Outcome 4: More equitable market opportunities are created through connecting WOBs/GREs to larger public and private buyers. (Connecting Demand Side and Connect to Supply Side)

The project’s activities will provide evidence, information, and learning sessions to raise awareness about GRP; offer technical support and training for WOBs and GREs to develop skills to build more gender-inclusive and resilient business models; and facilitate the creation of referral networks amongst WOBs. In addition, it will provide capacity building among public and private sector organisations to develop and implement GRP policies and practices and focus on establishing collaboration opportunities between larger public and private sector buyers and WOBs/GREs to facilitate future market connections.

We are seeking a proactive, driven and energetic intern to join the growing team and provide support across a range of activities within the programme’s three key pillars. The intern will be under the direct supervision of the International WEE Consultant, but also work closely with Regional Programme Manager and other regional colleagues. As the internship can be completed remotely or in-person, applicants will be considered from all locations. However, preference will be given to candidates based in an Asia-Pacific time zone.

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities

• Support application review and due diligence for the 2022 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards
• Provide support for the UN Women 2022 Asia-Pacific WEPs Awards in the lead up to the Regional Ceremony mid-November, including drafting invitations letters, contributing to meetings with the event organizing agency, notifying Awardees and supporting the coordination of ceremony logistics
• Contribute to WEA communications activities, including drafting of newsletters and impact stories, reviewing WEPs Case Studies, and input to social media campaigns showcasing WEA’s work with entrepreneurs and corporates
• Develop presentation decks and inputs to briefing materials and talking points for WEA events
• Support data entry and management of the WEA stakeholder database
• Compile information and data from different sources and produce analytical synopses and briefs
• Liaise with and provide support to WEA country teams and other partners as assigned by supervisor, especially to provide technical guidance for the WEPs Approvals process
• Actively participate in and contribute to team meetings
• Perform other tasks as assigned by supervisor

Learning Objectives

• Increase understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system
• Gain knowledge and understanding of issues related to WEE
• Build and develop professional relationships with UN Women colleagues and colleagues from other UN agencies
• Work as a team member in a multicultural setting and develop professional relationships with UN Women colleagues and colleagues from other UN agencies
• Develop advocacy and data management skills

Competencies

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:

UN-Women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf (unwomen.org)

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of the subject of women’s economic empowerment;
• Excellent organizational and time management skills;
• Ability to work with different actors, including through remote contact;
• Ability to multi-task and address competing priorities;
• Ability to work effectively in independent and collaborative settings;
• Ability to take initiatives, ask questions, and contribute substantively;
• Strong computer skills, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to use basic functions of Excel to analyze and visualize data and findings
• Strong research, writing and critical analysis skills
• Excellent communications skills, with ability to communicate with diverse stakeholders and especially the private sector;
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team to meet tight deadlines and produce high-quality work.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications

Education:

• University studies in one of the following disciplines: gender studies, development studies, international affairs, business, economics or other relevant subjects is required.
• Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); 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 and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation, or Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program which is part of a degree programme and undertake the internship as part of the program requirements.
• Knowledge in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Language:

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.

Renumeration:

Interns who are not in receipt of financial support from other sources such as universities or other institutions will receive a stipend from UN Women to partially subsidize their basic living costs for the duration of the internship.

Application Information:

• All applicants must submit a cover letter, completed and signed Personal History Form(P11) and two writing samples (i.e. university paper, dissertation excerpt, research report, article/blog post) with their application.
• As the internship can be completed remotely or in-person, applicants will be considered from all locations. However, preference will be given to candidates based in an Asia-Pacific time zone.
• Due to the high volume of applications received, we can ONLY contact successful candidates.
• The successful candidate will be required to provide proof of enrollment in a valid health insurance plan at the duty station of the internship, proof of school enrollment or degree, a scanned copy of their passport/national ID and a copy of a valid visa (as applicable).

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided?on the basis of?qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.? All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)