Spotlight Initiative Intern at UN Women

Type of Contract: Internship
Post Level: Intern
Duration of Initial Contract: Initial duration of 3 months
Expected Duration of Assignment: 6 months

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.
• UN Women’s office in Nigeria works to advance implementation of the Agency’s normative, operational and coordination mandate, in close partnership with the Government of Nigeria, the United Nations Country Team and civil society organizations. 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.
• The Spotlight Initiative is a global partnership between the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU), launched in 2017, as part of the global response to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in support of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. Nigeria is one of eight African countries selected to implement the Spotlight Initiative, which will focus strongly on preventing early marriage and female genital mutilation. The Spotlight Initiative will be implemented in six target states in Nigeria by five principal agencies (UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNESCO) under the coordination of the Resident Coordinator’s Office.
• UN Women, as one of the core agencies implementing the Spotlight Initiative in Nigeria, will establish a dynamic and energetic team to support implementation of the Initiative. An intern will be recruited as part of the Spotlight Initiative team, and report to the Technical Coherence Programme Officer, while working with the entire UN Women Spotlight team, to delivering on UN Women’s interventions under the entire Spotlight Initiative

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist in the day to day planning and management of programmes and activities
• Support the development and implementation of a communications and advocacy strategy for the Spotlight Initiative
• Contribute to the development of an innovative social media strategy for the Spotlight Initiative
• Support the development of news stories and briefs for the website and newsletters, and the production of advocacy and communication materials (eg. films, videos)
• Take photographs and videos for both traditional and web-based media.
• Support the establishment and maintenance of a resource library, the development of knowledge tools and products to inform the programmatic roll-out of the Spotlight Initiative.
• Support the Spotlight team to prepare and organize workshops, trainings and meetings with partners and key stakeholders
• Assist in the documentation and reporting on programme activities, writing meeting minutes, mission and training reports
• Support research to inform preparation of talking points, concept note and other documentations
• Perform other duties as may be required

Learning Objective:

• Develop an understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• The intern must have completed university studies (minimum Bachelor's level or equivalent) or be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme in Economics, Development Finance studies, Gender studies, International Development, Procurement, Public Policy or related study areas
• Enrolled in a graduate-school programme is an asset(second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
• Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation.

Language:

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

Eligibility
Applicants to the internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

• 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 as defined in above and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Competencies
Core Values and Guiding Principles:

• Integrity:
  • Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
• Professionalism:
  • Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
• Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:
  • Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
  • Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Ethics and Values:
  • Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.
• Organizational Awareness:
  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Development and Innovation:
  • Take charge of self-development and take initiative.
• Work in teams:
  • Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Communicating and Information Sharing:
  • Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
• Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:
  • Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards other.
• Conflict Management:
  • Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.
• Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:
  • Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.
• Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:
  • Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

• Work and drive progress both in teams and independently;
• Have an analytical and methodological mindset;
• Understand the nature of development programme work and what development results are;
• Knowledge of results-based management;
• Be a self-starter and work in a structured and organized way;
• Advanced user in Excel and/or other data handling and statistical programmes.

United Nations Considerations

• The United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. (Charter of the United Nations - Chapter 3, article 8).
• Candidates will be required to meet the requirements of Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter as well as the requirements of the position.
• The United Nations is committed to the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity for all its human resources, including but not limited to respect for international human rights and humanitarian law.
• Candidates may be subject to screening against these standards, including but not limited to whether they have committed, or are alleged to have committed criminal offences and/or violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Remuneration
Interns are not financially remunerated by UN Women.