Communications Intern

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.

UN Women Zimbabwe coordinates the UN’s work on gender equality and supporting the country to achieve gender equality and equity targets within the Sustainable Development Goals. The agency is implementing activities in key strategic areas that includes Women’s political participation, Women’s economic empowerment and Ending violence against women. UN Women is also part of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) - the Spotlight Initiative. The Initiative brings focused attention to the issue of VAWG, placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Communication is a critical function of UN Women’s operations. Furthermore, the portfolio comprises several joint programmes in which UN Women cooperates with other UN agencies, government, civil society, the academia and private sector. The Communications Intern will thus be a part of the UN Communications Group and work with the Communications Officer to ensure that gender work across Zimbabwe United Nations Development Framework is adequately communicated on various media platforms.

The Communications Intern will be expected to provide communications support across all programme areas. UN Women’s programmatic work seeks to provide evidence on what works to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment in keeping with existing international normative guidelines and standards

Duties and Responsibilities

The UN Communications Intern will work under the supervision of the Communications Officer.  The candidate is expected to:

• Contribute to the implementation of the communications strategy and event planning
• Assist with the coordination and logistical preparation for 16 days of Activism, International Women’s Day as well as other related events carried out by UN Women.
• Review media content and update contact lists invite them to UN Women events.
• Support documentation process through photography
• Develop articles about the events as well as current affairs
• Assist with administrative tasks related to communications or events

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 with content management systems and tools
• Practical knowledge of photo, video editing software and online publishing
• The ability to communicate simply, clearly and effectively with excellent written skills
• Practical knowledge of Microsoft Office business application software.
• An ability to work under pressure.
• An ability to work on a team

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University studies in one of the following disciplines: or equivalent in Media, Journalism, Mass Communication or a related field or other relevant subjects is required.
• 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, or Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program which is part of a degree programme and undertake the internship as part of the program requirements.

Language:

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

Renumeration:

Interns who are not in receipt of financial support from other sources such as universities or other institutions will receive a stipend from UN Women to partially subsidize their basic living costs for the duration of the internship.

Application Information:

• Due to the high volume of applications received, we can ONLY contact successful candidates.
• Successful candidate will be required to provide proof of enrollment in a valid health insurance plan at the duty station of the internship, proof of school enrollment or degree, a scanned copy of their passport/national ID and a copy of a valid visa (as applicable).  

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.