UN Women - Intern for Operations Support

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.

Unit/ Project Background:

Active in Albania since it set up its Country Programme in 2007, UN Women works closely with the government and civil society to design and implement the laws, policies, programmes and services needed to improve the status of women and achieve global standards for gender equality. Within the One UN Programme in Albania, UN Women Albania leads on gender equality issues, leads UN coordination on gender and provides support to related activities.

UN Women focuses its programme initiatives in four priority areas that are fundamental to women’s equality and that can unlock progress for everyone in Albania:

• Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership

UN Women’s Leadership and Political Participation programme in Albania supports electoral processes that uphold women’s rights and initiatives that strengthen the role of public electoral oversight bodies. It works with political parties to improve their candidate recruitment and selection rules and partners with civil society and media to fight gender stereotypes and advocate for women’s fair access to political decision-making.

• Women’s Economic Empowerment

Working to ensure that key national strategies embed gender equality and greater economic opportunity for women, UN Women’s Economic Empowerment programme provides supports to the Albanian Government to meet its international and national obligations relating to women’s economic empowerment. UN Women also works with Albania’s private sector to increase women’s participation in the work force, corporate leadership and supply and distribution networks through the Women's Empowerment Principles of the UN Global Compact and UN Women.

• Ending Violence against women

An important part of our work involves assisting the Government of Albania implement the global norms and standards enshrined in its international agreements (CEDAW and Istanbul Convention) as well as to implement national legislation on ending violence against women. At the same time, UN Women leads coordination of the UN agencies in country around awareness raising, 16 Days of Activism campaign under the UNiTE framework and involvement of men and boys.

• Gender sensitive national planning and budgeting

UN Women in Albania works to make gender equality central to planning and budgeting for national development and EU integration. We advocate for transparent and adequate public financing for gender equality, including for gender-responsive budgets that channel adequate resources to both women and men. We work with civil society organizations and women’s advocates to make accountability to gender equality commitments and measures central to national planning and budgeting.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and supervision of the Operations Manager the intern will conducts the following tasks:

• Supports the organization of regular and ad-hoc operations meetings; preparation of minutes and summaries of actions to be taken;
• Drafts routine correspondence, general briefing notes, translating when required;
• Works with programme staff on organization of activities related to all programmatic areas etc.
• Develops the database for current contracts in procurement and HR;
• Assists to develop and update procurement plans including costing, scheduling etc.
• Assists in the preparation of solicitation documents (RFQ, RFP) forms and letters;  
• Assist with the monitoring of tracking tool;
• Prepares database for phone costs over the last years;
• Assists the Finance Associate in documentation for VAT reimbursement as well as reconciliation;
• Prepares all related documents for electronic and hard-copy filing;

Learning objectives:

• Increase understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system.
• Increase knowledge and understanding of issues related to operations areas like HR; procurement; administration;
• Build and develop professional relationships with UN Women colleagues and colleagues from other UN agencies.
• Work as a team member in a multicultural setting.
• Develop management and evaluation skills.

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

• Very good computer skills;
• Very good data collection and analysis skills;
• Very good oral and written communication skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Focuses on impact and result for the partners and responds positively to feedback

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• The intern must have studies in public administration, economics, business administration, communication studies or other similar subject at the university level.
• 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 above) and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation.

Language:

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English and Albanian are required.

Interns are not financially remunerated by UN Women.

Application Information:

• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.
• Selected applicants must provide the internship application application agreement form, two letters of recommendation, proof of health insurance and school enrollment.

How to submit the application:

• Please download and complete the internship application form (link application agreement form);
• Merge the completed form, the letters of recommnedation, proof of health insurance and school enrollment into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement); Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Note:

In July 2010, the United nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

UN Women Internship Policy:

1) Applicants to the United Nations internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

(a)    Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);

(b)    Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);

(c)    Have graduated with a university degree (as (b) above) and, if selected, must commence the internship within one year.

2) UN Women internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship;

3) All the expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring Government or institution;

4) UN Women accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;

5) The intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;

6) Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to, any post in UN WOMEN during the period of the internship or for six months immediately following the expiration date of internship;

7) The intern must provide proof of enrollment in a health insurance plan, proof of school enrollment, a scanned copy of his/her passport, two letters of recommendation, and application.