Electrical Engineering Intern, Multiple positions

Background Information – Sierra Leone UNOPS has been established in Sierra Leone since 2000 and currently has 35 personnel in country, operating out of 3 main locations – in Freetown (with frequent visit to sites and other district) and home based.

During the last 15 years, UNOPS has delivered a variety of infrastructure projects nationwide, particularly in the fields of health and security infrastructure, and has procured a variety of vehicles, non-medical health related items and medical equipment.

• Infrastructure Programme for Isolation Units; Construction of screening and isolation units for government hospitals under the Ebola Emergency Response Project (EERP) (with funding from the World Bank) and medical waste management and WASH (with funding from DFID) in support of the Ministry of Health.
• Procurement of non-health items and services to contribute to the Global Fund Programme in Sierra Leone, for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)
• Construction of the new Administrative Headquarters of the Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) in Freetown, Sierra Leone for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

In order to respond to the Ministry of Energy’s challenge of providing off-grid rural electrification solutions in Sierra Leone, UNOPS has been engaged to deliver the Rural Renewable Energy Project (RREP) with the objective of increasing accessibility to public services and enhancing economic growth in underserved rural communities.

The present four-year project has been developed with the target outcome to increase rural renewable energy access through private sector involvement, and support institutional development/reforms on regulatory frameworks and business model approaches. The RREP will implement sustainable technical and financial solutions to establish electrification of villages through mini-grids, along with the technical assistance required to support the sustainable development of this off-grid renewable energy initiative.

The RREP is developed around technical solutions designed under three work packages (WP):

1. Work package 1 and 1+: Installing stand-alone 6kWp solar photovoltaic (sPV) systems in a minimum of 50 communities by July 2017 (with the ambition to scale up to 80 communities subject to availability of funds).  The stand-alone 6kWp solar photovoltaic systems will provide electricity to the Community Health Centres, and subsequently be expanded into small mini-grids in the 50 villages by the end of 2017, to connect all other public institutions and households in the village.  The 50 small mini-grids (< ~36kW) will be operated by private operators with commercial interests or local communities associations, both ensuring long term sustainability by December 2017.
2. Work package 2: The project will support a range of public-private sector business models for providing rural communities electrification through installation of environmentally and economically sustainable mini-grids (> ~36kW). A minimum of 40 mini-grids will be completed by October 2020, adding up to 5 MW to the country’s power generation capacity
3. Work package 3: Technical Assistance (TA) and institutional development (capacity building) to both government authorities and private sector, as part of the holistic approach to facilitate mini-grids development and long term sustainable operations.

As part of the capacity building the Electrical Engineer interns will be given an opportunity through practical “hands - on” approach the objectives of the training is to enable the interns acquire higher level of skills, and consequently improve their competency.  A period of formal structured internship is necessary in order to fully integrate the theoretical knowledge to practice. The interns will be systematically introduced to the ways and get a feel for construction industry and putting such knowledge into practice with the aim of becoming a competent and confident Professional Engineers.

2. Training components and learning elements

The overall objectives of the training are as follows:

• To provide structured guidance and training under the supervision of senior civil engineers.
• To provide the young graduates with an intensive exposure to civil engineering discipline and practice.
• To support young civil engineering graduates through their initial professional development and eventually, to attain full professional status.
• To facilitate bridging of the gap between education and professional qualification and facilitate development of skills and professional approach needed to practice as a civil engineering professional.
• To increase the chances of employability in industry for young civil engineering graduates.

3. Participation in missions or training courses

• Know your work place and team
• Know the organogram of the design office/construction head office/construction works yard.
• Learn the functions of Departments and key personnel in a design office/construction head office/construction works yard.
• Know key construction site personnel in a building and/or road project
• Understanding the importance of Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) issues at work sites
• Ability to carry out standardized test procedures and diagnostic methods using wiring diagrams and test tools and carries out simple repairs at electrical systems.
• Ability to use testing and diagnosing tools as well as expert systems for the fault diagnosis at electrical systems up to the component level and carry out the necessary repairs.
• Ability to make notes, record data and sketch visual representations in hard copy by hand, in potentially adverse weather conditions
• Ability to safely perform physical activity, whether individually or in a group/team of two students or more, in all types of weather conditions and terrain, which may include underground working where appropriate.

4. Additional comments

• Ability to use appropriate equipment competently and safely (following appropriate training) to conduct a range of electrical measurement safely.
• Ability to observe, undertake  the measurement of, accurately records and manipulate data and/or observation in the workshop and/or fieldwork environment using appropriate equipment (Following appropriate training)
• Ability to log data in the field books or electronically, to ensure that they are able to process the raw data to analyze properties using appropriate software and then present that data in a report.

• 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 in Electrical Engineering or have graduated with a relevant University degree in the past three years. 

Internship-related experiences        

• While no prior work experience is required, some experience in Electrical Engineering ideally within the development sector or private sector, is highly desirable. 

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of second UN official language is required.

Additional requirements        

• AutoCAD certification is desirable.

• Advanced MS Office skills is desirable

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

• 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 are strongly encouraged to apply.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.