Knowledge Management Intern

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Within UNOPS, Implementation Practices and Standards (IPS) is responsible for the UNOPS delivery practices. IPS provides thought leadership, standards and oversight as support to the successful delivery of programmes and projects within UNOPS service lines (infrastructure, procurement, project management, human resources and financial management services). 

IPS is comprised of the Infrastructure and Project Management Group and the Procurement Group which aims to reduce organizational risks, improve project performance, and promote excellence across UNOPS projects through the Standards Management Framework; and provides organisational oversight on the application of standards. These Groups also support the positioning of UNOPS in the UN system and development sector in Infrastructure, Project Management and Procurement. 

The Portfolio support unit which aims at building up and managing the organisational readiness of UNOPS and therefore support the implementation of the UNOPS global portfolio. It also provides support services to the Implementation Practices and Standards function.

IPS is also hosting the Knowledge Management corporate initiative.

Through its 2018-2021 Strategic Plan adopted in September 2017, UNOPS has made Knowledge Management one of its key priorities and displays a clear ambition to focus knowledge management on efforts to harness expertise for integrated service offerings and specialized solutions, based on realized or anticipated demand towards specific goals and operational contexts. As such, UNOPS Strategic Plan specifies that the baseline for the UNOPS knowledge management strategy will be that past and future demand will help focus investments for reuse and innovation of expertise, especially with regards to institutional capabilities.

To achieve organization-wide knowledge management, UNOPS has launched a corporate initiative during the last quarter of 2017, to be pursued through 2021. It especially poses the needs for the knowledge management activities to be integrated into UNOPS existing structures and workplans so that it becomes inherent in UNOPS core business.

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Knowledge Management Specialist, the successful candidate will be responsible for supporting a variety of tasks and work packages as a part of her/his internship period. We are seeking qualified applicants who have strong communication and planning skills and capacity in digital media. The successful candidate must be client/service-oriented as well as structured, organized and detail-oriented. In addition, the incumbent is expected to demonstrate willingness and ability to learn all online tools used by UNOPS, provide guidance and assistance as required to UNOPS personnel and overall continually improve required technical skills under the guidance of the KM Specialist. The incumbent’s support will be focused on, but not limited to, knowledge management and communication activities.

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

• Exposure to UNOPS knowledge management corporate standards and activities (ultimately leading to Knowledge Management Specialist or Advisor career path);

• Specific experience in communications at the corporate level, another core function within UNOPS (ultimately leading to Communications Specialist or Advisor career path);

• Exposure to an international work environment;

• Exposure to headquarters.

The internship is expected to start February 2021 for a duration of 6 months. This period can be renewed once for another 6 months, subject to performance and availability of funds.

Overall support to a variety of tasks and work packages in the area of support services, more specifically communications, in alignment with the IPMG annual work plan:

I.  Knowledge Management support

• Support the implementation of the Communities of Practice (COPs) in UNOPS by reporting on community analytics and supporting knowledge sharing initiatives within the COPs.

• Support the KM specialist in the role of Knowledge Management Focal Point for Community Managers and Practitioners.

• Assist the KM Specialist in monitoring and evaluation of the Knowledge Management strategy objectives.

• Support the KM specialist by scheduling and attending Knowledge Management meetings, including taking meetings and following up on action points.

• Provide support to translation exercises, including review of translation as requested;

• Support the setup of web conferencing and other online collaborative workspaces as requested.

• Assist in maintaining the Knowledge Management site on the intranet, including relevant material and documents on the KM intranet.

II.   Support to communications-related initiatives related to Knowledge Management

• Support the Knowledge Management strategy through the communication and dissemination of KM products developed by the KM Team.

• Support the Knowledge Management initiative by responding to emails and requests sent to Knowledge Management.

• Provide support to UNOPS Town Halls, webinars and other corporate initiatives involving KM products and initiatives.

Education

Completion of secondary school or equivalent is required.

To be eligible for this particular internship with UNOPS, the candidate must be studying towards a university degree in communications, business management, or other relevant discipline, or have graduated with a relevant university degree in the past three years.

Experience

While no prior work experience is required, some experience in digital media, communications, web content management, ideally within the development sector, is highly desirable.

Additional requirements

• Excellent communications skills, especially English writing skills and copy editing, is required.

• Experience with online communications and digital media is required.

• Strong technical skills and experience working with Google suite is required.

• Experience working with Microsoft Office or similar software is an asset.

• Experience with desktop publishing software (e.g. Adobe Creative Suite) is an asset.

• Experience working with content management systems (e.g. Craft), including metadata management, site architecture, developing workflows, and Google analytics is an asset.

Language

• Fluency and proficiency in English is required. 

• Proficiency in French or Spanish is required, and proficiency in other languages such as in Arabic is an asset, but not required.

Contract type: Intern Contract level: Intern
Contract duration: 6 months (with possibility of extension)

• 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.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• 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
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• 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.

Work environment:
IPS offers a unique work environment in UNOPS headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, located in the UN City building, one of Copenhagen’s landmarks. UNOPS HQ offers a safe, family-friendly environment with multiple opportunities for networking and an active lifestyle in a city known for its excellent urban design and planning.
The IPS team is a diverse team in terms of age, nationalities and family situations.  The team is inclusive and values social and athletic activities like team breakfast, Friday evening networking or sports such as sailing, climbing, running and squash. IPS is very dynamic and welcomes agility, autonomy and self-drive. The work of IPS is oriented towards exciting opportunities which have a corporate, global impact and is in touch with the whole of UNOPS. UNOPS has a hosting agreement with the Government of Denmark under which both national and international candidates are eligible for HQ-based positions. UNOPS officials are exempt from Danish taxes on UN incomes. EU citizens in particular may opt to be registered with the Danish State Administration as an EU migrant worker, and keep the rights associated with that status, or register through UNOPS with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. EU citizens may apply for the free public Danish health insurance or special health card depending on their choice of registration. Non-EU citizens will be registered by UNOPS under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and must purchase their own private health insurance. 
IPS is very respectful of the UNOPS approach to work-life balance, including flexible working hours and remote working arrangements. IPS is keen on improving diversity in the team with a current focus on gender equality and equal representation.