Intern - UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC)

Background

The UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) for Global Development Partnerships, established in 2011, represents UNDP in Korea, works with Korea on international issues, and shares Korea’s development experiences with other countries. The Centre’s work is organized under four headlines: 1) Global Development Issues, 2) Development Solutions Partnerships, 3) Policy Analysis, and 4) Communications and Outreach.

USPC offers a small group of outstanding graduate students the opportunity to acquire direct exposure to UNDP’s work and gain technical knowledge and experience in international development and multilateral cooperation.

For more information on USPC’s work, please visit the website: http://www.undp.org/content/seoul_policy_center/en/home/our-work.html

Objectives and Benefits:

An internship with USPC will offer graduate students the opportunity to:

• enhance educational experience though work assignments in the field of international development cooperation;
• acquire insights into working in the United Nations with a multicultural environment;
• sharpen technical skills in a wide array of practical office work, including research & analysis, administration, organization of international events, and communications;
• receive substantive guidance and mentoring support from experienced professionals for career development;
• prepare applied analytical papers in specific aspects of development cooperation useful for the UNDP Policy Center that can also be used toward meeting academic requirements.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of professional staff, interns will support the Centre’s work in the following main areas of work, as appropriate to their backgrounds and interests:

• Working with Korea on the global development agenda including the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation and the Post-2015 agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• Facilitating and strengthening engagements and substantive exchange of knowledge among Korea, UNDP, and developing countries on key development issues as part of a team acting as a knowledge broker and convener;
• Policy research and analysis on key development issues for sharing with Korean as well as international partners;
• Implementing the Centre’s communications strategy, including public outreach through web, social media and news media channels, as well as producing publications.

Under these four pillars, specific tasks may include:

• Conducting research and producing briefs on various issues of international development cooperation such as South-South and triangular development cooperation, Sustainable Development Goals, Korea’s development experiences (e.g., on corruption prevention, public access to information, e-Government, public infrastructure management, reforestation, gender equality), environment & green economy issues, and natural disaster risk reduction areas, as well as local governance;
• Documenting, translating and packaging Korea’s development experience and lessons learnt with an international perspective as a basis of knowledge exchange and triangular cooperation;
• Designing & implementing pilot projects and partnership activities to share with developing countries Korea’s specific experience in the area of anti-corruption such as the Anti-Corruption Initiative Assessment of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission of Korea, and the Clean Construction System for Transparent Management of Public Infrastructures of the Seoul Metropolitan Government; and gender-based violence;
• Translating publications, papers, web content and other materials from English to Korean and vice-versa;
• Supporting the organization of UNDP meetings and events, such as a Forum on Humanitarian-Development-Peacekeeping nexus, roundtable on Sustainable Development Goals, UN Day events on SDGs, GPEDC;
• Performing liaison support and administrative tasks as necessary in the day-to-day office operation;
• Supporting communications and advocacy infrastructure (website, social media channels, media presence, public outreach) to ensure effective advocacy on the main areas of work of the USPC.

Work Arrangements:

It is desired that the intern will work at least 20-30 hours per week during usual business hours.  If that is not possible due to coursework or other outstanding commitments, other work arrangements will be determined based on mutual agreement between the supervisor and intern.  The intern will work in the USPC office where work space and an email address will be provided. It is expected that most interns prepare several short notes or a short paper on a topic in development cooperation agreed with the supervisor. 

Competencies

• Demonstrate commitment to the UN’s core values;
• Respects individual, gender and cultural differences in dealing with others;
• Treat all people fairly without favoritism.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Must be enrolled in the final year of an undergraduate study programme, or enrolled in a graduate-study program, or within one year of graduation of the aforementioned. Those in the first, second, or third-year undergraduate programs are not eligible to apply;
• Academic training in a social science area (e.g., international development, international relations, law, political science, public administration, or related field), environmental policy/science, journalism, or Korean-English translation/interpretation;

Experience

• Prior experience with government policy work, international development projects, policy research, and Korean-English translations would be an asset;
• Demonstrated interest in the field of development;
• Demonstrated research and analytical capacity;
• Strong interest and training in drafting and editing policy-related documents;
• Proven ability to manage diverse and complex tasks with tight deadlines;
• Able to work effectively in a team and in an international environment;
• Administrative skills in the organizing of meetings and events;
• Excellent written and communication skills;
• Proficiency in using standard software programmes: Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook; and in multimedia and new media software.

Languages

• Strong writing and speaking abilities in English; fluency in Korean is not required but would be an asset.

Conditions:

• UNDP internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship;
• All the expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring Government or institution;
• UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;
• The intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;
• Interns are not eligible to apply for  any positions (Fixed-Term Appointment, Temporary Appointment, Service Contract, Individual Contract) in UNDP during the period of the internship;
• Interns must provide proof of enrollment in health insurance plan;
• Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity.

Subsequent Employment:

There is no expectation of employment with UNDP following an internship.