Engineering Intern, Infrastructure and Project Management

UNOPS in South Asia

UNOPS in South Asia provides technical, operational and administrative support to 5 countries in the South Asia region: Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. UNOPS’ work in this region focuses on the construction and operation of high quality sustainable infrastructure and sustainable procurement, project management, timely provision of services, and the use of most relevant technologies. One of the main focuses on UNOPS work in South Asia is to reduce the vulnerability of population to unsafe infrastructure, maximise the impact of public investments in infrastructure, and improve the effectiveness and financial viability of the public services delivered out of key public infrastructures. Such projects provide social and economic benefits to vulnerable populations across the region, and contribute to poverty eradication. Projects target a range of sectors such as education, health, urban development, environmental services, climate change mitigation, as well as a range of “soft” support in Capacity Building, operations and maintenance of public assets, local governance, etc.

Recently, the UNOPS, UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women developed the joint programme in Bangladesh which aims to sustain the resilience of human and economic development in Bangladesh through inclusive, gender responsive disaster management and risk informed environment.  This joint programme focuses on developing national capacities in the areas of:  risk-informed and render-responsive development planning, capacities to address mega disasters in gender responsive manner, improved capacities of selected public institutions to achieve resilient institutions through risk-informed, gender-responsive infrastructure systems, enhance women’s leadership disaster response and management; and finally, to strengthen community-level preparedness, response and recovery capacities.

Under the Joint Programme, UNOPS in particular is providing technical assistance to Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and other public institutions to achieve resilience outcomes through designing and constructing risk-informed, gender responsive infrastructure system and lay the foundations for long-term resilience actions in socially inclusive infrastructure systems in Bangladesh. In particular, UNOPS will contribute to the achievement of the over-all programme by:

• Strengthening LGED asset management system and decision making capacities for determining priorities associated with new development, maintenance and/or retrofitting of existing assets;
• Strengthening project evaluation criteria and capacities within LGED and other divisions, improve coordination and reduce duplication;
• Creating an applied understanding and capacity to introduce the concept of failure analysis to enhance build-back-better in reconstruction;
• Strengthening LGED professional capacities for Junior and mid-level engineers in the areas of design, construction and management/maintenance of resilient infrastructures;

Background Information – Job Specific

As part of the capacity building of Engineers in the areas of Infrastructure and Project Management, Engineer Interns will be given opportunity through practical “hands-on” approach and exposure to acquire higher level of skills and ultimately contribute to improve their competency.  A period of formal structured internship is necessary in order to fully integrate theoretical knowledge to practice, especially in the context of challenging developing country such as Bangladesh. The intern will be systematically introduced to the infrastructure and project management nature of the project and in ‘Resilient Infrastructure’ technical assistance project. He/she will be paired with in-house infrastructure advisor/experts, external technical specialists and local engineers/professionals of the Government of Bangladesh to work together on asset management system and improving project design/project criteria.  The level of exposure and actual work experience will contribute towards increasing capacities of Engineering intern on resilient infrastructure planning, information management, providing technical assistance to clients, training and engineering/infrastructure policy framework development.  Interns will be systematically introduced and given project level tasks to putting knowledge into practice with the aim of becoming a competent and confident professional engineers.

At the end of this internship, the successful candidate will have gained in:

1. Exposure to UNOPS infrastructure and project management corporate standards and activities
2. Experience in Resilient Infrastructure project implementation in developing country-Bangladesh
3. Exposure and assistance to the technical specialists in the assessment of the current Asset Management System for Local Government Engineering Department in Bangladesh
4. Work with client stakeholders in the design and feasibility of expanded comprehensive Asset Management System for LGED
5. Exposure to field level survey of LGED assets (roads, bridges, culverts, buildings)
6. Participate in the discussion and documentation of standards in the planning, design, compliance and construction processes for new assets and infrastructure systems
7. Hands-on exposure and actual tasks support in developing policies and procedures for project design criteria, project feasibility studies and completion reports for government infrastructure department in developing country.

Asset Management System and Project management support:

• Support a variety of tasks, work packages and activities as outlined and assigned in the annual workplan for the National Resilience Program – Resilient Infrastructure component
• Responsible for meeting and setting detailed goals, targets and standards set out by supervisor
• Providing analysis and reporting as required; research and information/data collection and documentation
• Providing support on field assessments and surveys related to infrastructure asset management
• Day to day tasks as assigned
• Providing assistance in the training, workshops and meetings with local engineers related to resilient infrastructure
• Providing assistance to the technical experts in the development of technical guidance and policies for Local Government Engineering Department

Communication, Reporting and Tools:

• Willingness and ability to learn resilient infrastructure and project management tools; providing guidance and assistance as required;
• Support the project documentation, best practices and share in the organization;
• As assigned with monitoring and reporting of performance

Education:

• To be eligible for this internship with UNOPS, the candidate must be studying towards University Degree in Civil Engineering or have graduated with relevant University degree in the past three years.

Relevant internship experience:

• While no prior work experience is required, some experience in Civil Engineering ideally within the government, development sector or private sector, is highly desirable.  Experiences related to Civil Infrastructures, roads/bridges construction are also desirable.

Language skills:

• Fluency in English is Required
• Fluency in Bangladeshi language is Required

• AutoCAD certification is desirable
• Advance MS Office skills desirable

• 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.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• 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.

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.