Media Relations Intern

Background

UN Women 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:

The Media Relations team focuses on developing and managing relationships with reporters and editors, giving them easy access to UN Women story ideas and sources, and working with them to increase coverage of UN Women’s work and gender equality in the traditional press.

This internship focuses on MEDIA RELATIONS i.e. dealing with the traditional media/ press. It does not include working on social media, editorial work, photography, or video-production, although your work may include collaborating with colleagues from these teams.

Duties and Responsibilities

As an intern you would:

• Assist the team in the abovementioned work
• Provide support during the 16 Days of Activism/ International day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which will take place in November-December.
• Actively expand and maintain the media contact database; research and add media contacts to UN Women’s database, as well as updating existing contacts, as needed
• Support media outreach; Research and support for media interviews and materials
• Keep abreast of relevant news and UN Women activities or programmes in the field, suggesting topics for news or feature story coverage
• Fact-checking, analyzing, and drafting material for external communications; this includes providing support in the production of communications materials such as factsheets and press releases.
• Assist in preparing weekly news coverage reports and monitoring daily news; working with our media monitoring vendor on editing reports and providing feedback
• Collaborate with colleagues from various other teams within the Communications Division (e.g. social media, editorial, audio-visual, multimedia).
• Other tasks as requested by the Communications Team

Learning objectives:

1. Increased understanding of UN Women’s work and the UN system;

2. Improved understanding of internal workings of Communications & Advocacy division of UN Women;

3. Increased awareness of media relations, tracking and news data management;

3. Learning about the work of gender and humanitarian action in an international environment;

4. Meeting and networking with UN Women colleagues in other units;

5. Work as a team member in a multicultural setting.

Competencies

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:

• Experience in communications, advocacy, public relations, journalism, or media and press relations;
• Experience in not-for-profit communications and advocacy work;
• Keen interest in gender equality/ women’s issues; 
• Proficiency in communications, teamwork, planning and organizing, creativity and technological awareness.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• The intern must have studies in journalism, communications, media studies, international relations 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 and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation.

Language:

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required; Working knowledge of another UN language a distinct advantage

Interns are not financially remunerated by UN Women.

Application Information:

• To apply for this internship, kindly send your resume and cover letter as a single PDF document to zina.alam@unwomen.org by Friday, Aug 30th, 2019
• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest.

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 defined in (a) or (b) above) and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation.

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 positions in the professional and above category 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.

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