Internship, Child Protection Data and Analytics Support, New York

The Data and Analytics Section of UNICEF headquarters in New York is looking for an intern to assist in the area of child protection with regards to data compilation and analysis, research and data visualization.

UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world.

For every child, hope

The UNICEF Internship Programme offers qualified and eligible students at both Headquarters (HQ) and Country Offices (CO) the unique opportunity to acquire direct practical experience in UNICEF's work and the United Nations system under the direct supervision of experienced UNICEF staff.

To be considered for an internship with UNICEF, applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree programme (or have completed one in the last 2 years); and
• Be proficient in at least one of UNICEF’s working languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin or Arabic. Additional language requirements may apply;  and
• Have excellent academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records

Purpose of the internship

UNICEF has a critical role in monitoring the situation of children and women in the world and for reporting on progress toward internationally set goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Data and Analytics (D&A) section of UNICEF headquarters in New York is responsible for all activities related to data collection, analysis and dissemination at the global level. The primary activities undertaken by the data analysis unit within D&A include compiling data, methodological development, global monitoring and reporting, analyzing data for evidence-based policy and programming and capacity-building. UNICEF maintains a series of global databases for tracking the situation of children and women globally that are updated annually through a process that draws on a wealth of data maintained by UNICEF’s network of country offices. UNICEF’s work in the area of data analysis highlights trends and emphasizes patterns found within the data and suggests how these data can be used strategically to inform programmatic efforts. The results of UNICEF’s data analysis work appear in its flagship publications as well as data-driven thematic reports. UNICEF also plays an active – and often lead – role in a number of inter-agency monitoring groups on specific topics. Together with its inter-agency partners, UNICEF helps devise new methodologies, indicators and monitoring tools, build statistical capacity at the country level, develop joint estimates, and harmonize monitoring work across partners.

The Data and Analytics Section of UNICEF headquarters in New York is looking for an intern to assist in the area of child protection with regards to data compilation and analysis, research and data visualization. It is expected that the intern will primarily support with three main areas of work: birth registration, justice for children and children in alternative care. As effective programming must be grounded in robust data and evidence to demonstrate results, the research and analysis generated through this internship will help broaden the evidence base on the issues of birth registration, justice for children and children in alternative care to inform programme and policy interventions. This work will be in support of UNICEF's mission and objectives in the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan, which includes impact and outcome level indicators in in all three areas in its results framework.

Under the supervision of the Senior Statistics Specialist for Child Protection and Development, the intern will:

• Support with undertaking data compilation (in consultation with UNICEF country offices) on justice for children in order to build up a global database with country-level estimates on the number of children (and rates) of children in detention; draft an article for possible submission to an academic journal summarizing data availability and issues related to justice for children.
• Conduct a desk review on a subset of countries with strong examples of national systems for counting, monitoring and reporting on children in institutional/residential care in order to summarize the characteristics and qualities of an effective system.
• Support with developing materials for a standard methodological approach for mapping and enumerating residential care facilities and the children living in them that can be replicated and adapted for a variety of country contexts that will be fielded first in Uganda.  
• Support with data analysis and visualization as contribution towards a new global data-driven report on birth registration.
• Support with data compilation, data analysis, and data visualization in other areas of child protection.

Duration

This is expected to be a full-time internship office-based in NY for a total duration of three months, between 8 January and 6 April 2018.

Compensation

UNICEF’s policy for compensation of interns will be applied, this will include a modest contribution towards living expenses and a one-time lump sum as contribution towards travel and visa costs (if applicable). 

Qualifications 

• Currently enrolled in a graduate (Master’s or PhD level) degree programme or have recently completed a graduate degree (within the last two years) in social sciences, health, statistics, or related field.
• Experience conducting research and data analysis is required.
• Competency in STATA or SPSS is required; proficiency with Tableau is an asset.
• Familiarity with the areas of birth/civil registration and vital statistics, justice for children and/or children in alternative care is an asset.
• Strong analytical/technical writing skills in English is required. 
• Fluency in English is required, fluency in French or Spanish is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

Our core values are Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and our Core Competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.