Internship - Partnership and Coordination Service, Division of External Relations in Geneva

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INTERNSHIP

Internship in Partnership and Coordination Service, Division of External Relations, Geneva, Switzerland.

Duty Station: UNHCR Geneva, Switzerland
Duration: 3 months
Closing date:  22 April 2019
Expected start date: 01 May 2019

Organizational context
UNHCR¿s Partnership and Coordination Service (PCS) is responsible for ensuring UNHCR approaches partnerships in a strategic and coherent manner. The Services provides support to regional and country offices on relationships with UN agencies, NGOs, advocacy partners and others and ensure UNHCR exercises effective field leadership and coordination in line with its Mandate and agreed frameworks. Located in Geneva, PCS comprises the Inter-Agency and Coordination Section (IACS), the NGO and Civil Society Section, and the Sports Section.
The incumbent will be part of the Inter-Agency and Coordination Section (IACS), which provides guidance on inter-agency coordination matters related principally to humanitarian action, and coordinates with other relevant division and offices on matters related to the other UN reform processes (such as the UNDS), nexus issues and the Global Compact on Refugees. Externally, PCS presents and advocates UNHCR's positions in inter-agency fora, in support to the office of the High Commissioner, e.g. Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the Chief Executives Board (CEB). A major part of the unit¿s objective is to provide coordination support to the field through designing and advocating for models, negotiating and jointly implementing with inter-agency partners, and providing in situ support to country offices. IACS also develops learning programmes and other forms of support to regional bureau and country offices.



The position
UNHCR is looking for individuals with a wide range of skills and great interest in the work of the organization to support our work. The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Senior Inter-Agency Coordination Officer who will on a regular basis discuss the various issues and tasks to be assigned to the incumbent. ¿
The incumbent¿s tasks shall include, inter alia:
¿ Prepare meeting minutes, briefings, talking points and other information packages as requested.
¿ Support the follow up of UNHCR¿s self-report progress against commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit.
¿ Support the Service in its engagement with the IASC and ECOSOC (Humanitarian Affairs Segment).
¿ Support UNHCR¿s engagement with the SDG 16 Global Alliance in the run-up to the Un General Assembly High Level Political Forum in July. In particular, provide technical and coordination support to Global Alliance SDG 16 side events and SDG 16 advocacy pieces.
¿ Collate comments and feedback on assigned documents received from internal and external stakeholders.
¿ Undertake any other tasks assigned.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required
In order to be considered for an internship, candidates must meet the following eligibility criteria:

¿ Recent graduate (those persons who completed their studies within one year of applying) or current student in a graduate/undergraduate school programme from a university or higher education facility accredited by UNESCO; and
¿ Have completed at least two years of undergraduate studies in a field relevant or of interest to the work of the Organization.
¿ Candidates who have immediate relatives (father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister) working as staff members of UNHCR are not eligible.

Other qualifications
¿ The candidate must be interested in advocacy, humanitarian, development or external relations work.
¿ Knowledge of Photoshop, WordPress software, editing tools or an interest in learning them is an advantage

Key skills
¿ Excellent communication skills both orally and in writing
¿ Required languages: English & French are essential; any other language is an asset
¿ Interest in the humanitarian cause
¿ Excellent interpersonal skills
¿ Diplomacy
¿ Discretion
¿ Meticulous attention to detail
¿ Effective in time management
¿ Organizational abilities
¿ Computer skills

Conditions
Working Hours: This is a full-time role with working hours starting from 9.00am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week).
Allowance:  Interns who do not receive financial support from an outside party will receive an allowance to partially help to cover the cost of food, local transportation and living expenses.

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. Please note that the closing date to apply to this internship advertisement is Monday 22 April 2019 (midnight Geneva time).