Global Management Intern

UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner.

Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations.

With over 7,000 personnel spread across 80 countries, UNOPS offers its partners the logistical, technical and management knowledge they need, wherever they need it.

A flexible structure and global reach means that we can quickly respond to our partners' needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale. 

The Small Grants Cluster (SGC) is based in New York, USA under ECR – Europe and Central Asia Region. Its Portfolio Managers and Portfolio Associates are currently based in New York and Copenhagen, with a geographical distribution of work in five regions: Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Its service lines range from full-cycle grant management to operations support (Finance, Procurement and HR) through programme support services – supporting sustainable livelihoods around the world. SGC uses Prince2 project management methodology to ensure the projects delivered meet the high quality standards required by its partners.

The SGC provides services to major partners the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the AusAid, the Government of Japan, USAID, the Government of Germany and the European Union.

With a current small grants portfolio of around 3,000 small grants projects expanded in over 125 countries with a total budget of over US$300 million (yearly delivery of approximately US$55 million), UNOPS has a solid experience – over 20 years’ – in delivering grants to local NGOs/CSOs. 

Small Grants Programme

Launched in 1992, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) has been promoting grassroots actions to address global environmental concerns. As a corporate GEF programme, SGP is implemented by UNDP, and executed by GPSO-SGC within UNOPS. As the responsible Executing Agency, UNOPS provides services to UNDP for administrative, financial and legal aspects of grant-making and country operations.

The Small Grants Programme aims to deliver global environmental benefits in the GEF focal areas of biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, protection of international waters, prevention of land degradation (primarily desertification and deforestation), forestry management and elimination of persistent organic pollutants (POP) through community-based approaches. SGP’s motto is “community action – global impact”.

SGP is operational in over 125 countries and provides funding up to $50,000 per project for community actions. To date, SGP has channeled more than $300 million to communities through more than 14,000 projects around the world, which have resulted in direct global environmental benefits and also influenced the formulation of national and local policies on sustainable environmental and development management.

The selected candidate will work in the Small Grants Cluster (SGC) under the direct supervision of the Small Grants Cluster Portfolio Associates for Latin America and Caribbean, Europe and Asia (based in Copenhagen). S/he will not however exercise any official UNOPS functions or possess any financial authority level.

This internship will offers the opportunity to acquire direct exposure to the portfolio management, grants administration and project management of SGP projects in over 40 countries. In addition, the intern will be exposed to the latest developments in the field as well as lessons and good practices derived from SGP portfolio.

S/he shall work as additional support staff of the Small Grants Cluster in necessary preparation of global exercises, drafting tailored communications and supporting on improvement projects. S/he will assist the Portfolio Team in completing the above-mentioned assignments.

The selected candidate will be invited to participate to meetings with country programme offices and will have access to Small Grants Programme environmental project database and strategic/core documents, which will facilitate his/her understanding of the programme.

The Intern’s responsibilities will progressively increase over the internship period and when possible the Intern will be leading/coordinating global exercises under PAs supervision.

 I.               Finance & Procurement (40%): 

• Review oneUNOPS Purchase Orders and Request for Payments to facilitate Grant and Country Operations Payment Process
• Review Procurement and Travel documentation ensuring compliance with UNOPS rules and regulations
• Assist with Data Analysis to monitor, track and improve regional portfolio capacity in meeting delivery target.
• Assist regional portfolio associates with reporting on project indicators of their country portfolio with the aim to identify bottlenecks and challenges.
• Assist in additional Finance related tasks upon request of SGC colleagues, including invoice payment, supplier management and travel arrangements.
• Participate on global exercises aimed at following up with low or slow performing countries in order to ensure the delivery target is reached.

II.                  HR & Communication (35%):

• Assist in HR tasks, when necessary, including participation in recruitment panels and contract management.
• Facilitate global exercises that aim at ensuring the local country teams respect core administrative and safety practices (MOSS, lease agreements, etc.) and assist the countries to comply with the rules and regulations when necessary.
• Facilitate the learning-process for new countries participating to the programme.
• Write short stories about successful projects to communicate on the SGP on UNOPS website.

III.               SGP Standard Operating Practices (SOP):

• Coordinate with the Portfolio Managers SGP user survey to review potential SOP improvements; lead virtual think tanks and knowledge management actions to improve operational practices within the assign regions.
• Based on “ground work” research, initiate and update SGP SOP, SGP Tailored guidelines and manuals together with the SGP-team.
• Draft and issue procedure guidelines for SGC team (including newly recruited interns

• Assist in preparation of knowledge and communication products in SGC, targeting colleagues, development partners and donors.
• Carry out web, database and document searches for relevant knowledge and information on emerging areas to enhance the knowledge products, in environment (e.g. Sustainable infrastructure, Climate Change adaptation, etc.) and any other relevant area/initiative to which grant mechanism can be applied (e.g. human rights, poverty mitigation, etc.).

The above is only a preliminary outline of potential tasks, which may be revised and/or added in view of emerging exercises, or necessary tasks, such as facilitating workshop preparation or communication tasks with different stakeholders.

1. Training components and learning elements

At the end of the internship period, the incumbent will have learnt the basis to work as a Portfolio Manager Assistant or Junior Portfolio Manager. S/he will have a global vision of the Portfolio Management position requirements and work methodologies to successfully manage a project portfolio of yearly $8-10M delivery in grants. In addition, the intern will gain sound understanding of UNOPS regulations and processes related to Grant Management, Procurement, HR and Finance. Finally, the intern will acquire global overview of working with a multi stakeholder programme involving UN (UNOPS/UNDP, different Donors, Programme Team, Field Project Personnel and Grantees 

2. Participation in missions or training courses

Possibility to participate to PM related certifications as well as Procurement and HR trainings provided by the organization.

Project related missions or participation in international conferences maybe possible pending availability of project funds.  

1. Academic qualifications 

All applicants should have completed a Bachelor degree, or be enrolled in a university programme such as  Masters or Ph.D. (or the equivalent) or have graduated from such studies within three (3) years prior to the applications date of the internship.

Area of study should be preferably one of the following: international relations, business administration, finance, project management, environment/development economics or related field;

2. Language Skills

Fluency in English required. Good knowledge in French or Spanish (both writing and speaking) will be considered as a strong advantage.

3. Computer Literacy

Microsoft Office, in particular Excel is desirable. ERP proficiency/data base management will be considered an asset.

4. Internship-related experiences

Prior exposure to similar work experience and/or UN/international organization system would be a distinct advantage (but not a requirement).

• 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.  

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.