Registration & Identity Management Internship

Duty station: Amman, Jordan
Duration of the internship: 6 months
Expected start date: ASAP

Background information/Organizational Context:

The internship is located within the Registration and Identity Management Unit, MENA Protection Service, MENA Bureau in Amman. The intern will report directly to the Senior Registration and Identity Management Officer.

The Middle East and North Africa region continues to face multiple and complex emergency situations on an unprecedented scale. In 2021, UNHCR protection efforts will focus on advocating for access to territory, protection from refoulment, registration, perseveration of protection space and available solutions, and protection from violence and exploitation. Despite insecurity and constrained access, UNHCR will continue to strengthen its presence and emergency response capacity to provide millions of refugees and IDPs in the region with lifesaving, multi-sectoral assistance. At the same time, it will seek to strengthen strategic partnerships with governments, development actors, international financial institutions, UN agencies, civil society, academia and private sector for a whole-of-society response.

In 2021, mixed population movements are expected to continue through North Africa, and UNHCR will continue to cooperate with governments and partners to improve access to safety, protection from refoulment, and solutions within existing migration frameworks. UNHCR will continue working closely with national and local authorities to develop and implement national asylum systems, as well as expand people of concerns¿ access to public service and livelihood opportunities.

To ensure effective protection it is important that POCs can contact UNHCR, and be able to access UNHCR, including via email to follow up on their concerns. Additionally, other stakeholders also need to contact UNHCR to seek information and address their queries. To meet such needs, the MENA Bureau operates a dedicated mailbox, which receives substantial communication each week directly from persons of concern, sometime as a matter of urgency and/or of a sensitive nature. The queries often relate to requests for protection and solutions interventions, though they may also be more general in character or relate to other forms of interventions such as material/financial assistance. The mailbox also receives emails of enquiry from external actors and stakeholders.

In order to respect the trust POCs and other actors place by writing to UNHCR via the mailbox, it is important that MENA PS regularly checks and filters the communication received and refers these as needed. This would ensure a general understanding of the concerns being raised by our POCs, while also ensuring that relevant feedback is provided as far as possible.

The intern will focus on screening and following up on the individual queries received from persons of concern addressed to the MENA Individual Case Management mailbox. The intern will also screen and refer communication from external actors and other stake holders and refer these as needed. Moreover, under the close supervision of the Snr Registration and Identity Management Officer, and in consultation with country operations, the intern will also explore options for making the mailbox system more effective (i.e. more meaningful for POCs and country operations). The intern will benefit from in-house training exclusive to UNHCR staff. Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of the Senior Registration and Identity Management Officer, the Intern will be required to undertake the following:

¿ Ensure the mailbox is checked daily and emails are filtered and referred, in line with the SOPs;
¿ Share the emails with the relevant operations/units, as appropriate for their intervention;
¿ Respond to queries, in line with the SOPs
¿ Share any urgent requests with the Senior Registration and Identity Management Officer, for necessary action
¿ Update the Protection Contacts focal points for each operation, in case of staff change or when any of the focal points leave the operation;
¿ Follow-up on received queries for appropriate response, in coordination with relevant protection teams, raising issues with relevant regional officers if required;
¿ Develop/draft proposals for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the mailbox management.
¿ Take part in online and in-house trainings; and,
¿ Support protection projects within MPS as required. Minimum qualifications required:

¿ Be a recent graduate * or current student in a graduate/undergraduate school programme from a university or higher education facility accredited by UNESCO;
¿ Have completed at least two years of undergraduate studies in a field relevant or of interest to the work of the Organization particularly in Law, political science or human rights;
¿ Demonstrated interest in humanitarian work/ field; and
¿ Arabic and English are essential.

*Recent graduates are to be considered those persons who completed their studies within one year of applying for an internship with UNHCR. Please note that the closing date for this advertisement is Thursday 13 May 2021.