Internship on skills communication

Department

The position is in the in the Transition to Formality Team (T2F), within the Development and Investment Branch (DEVINVEST) of the Employment Policy Department.

There are more than 2 billion people earning their livelihoods in the informal economy, representing 62% of today’s working population. In low-income countries, 90% of employment is informal, 67% in middle-income countries and 18% in high-income countries. 

Informal employment in fragile situations is estimated to account for 84.3% of total employment. In 2018, about 1.8 billion people were living in fragile and conflict affected situations and increasing risks of poverty and inequality remain because of climate change, scarce natural resources, protracted conflict and low levels of human development. It was estimated that the number would grow to 2.3 billion in 2030. The challenge is to develop and implement a multipronged approach to support transition from the informal to the formal economy tackling the multiple drivers of informality.  

DEVINVEST supports ILO member States to tackle these challenges through:

1.supporting employment-centred policies for countries in the fragile context affected by conflict and disaster to enable recovery and build resilience,
2.supporting economic diversification and structural change for enhancing employment and productivity growth and developing programmes to maximize the employment impact of trade and sectoral policies,
3.developing approaches for employment and productivity enhancements in rural economy and facilitating transition to formality,
4.supporting the planning and implementation of employment-intensive investments.

The T2F team aims at transition to formality and the promotion of formal job opportunities for informal workers through knowledge production and technical assistance in 1) policy design & implementation, 2) productivity & income growth, and 3) access to formal employment. The most striking aspect under 1) are policy tracking, monitoring & design, under 2) innovation and technology, trade and value chains and under 3) formalization measures such as e-formality, potential of emerging sectors (green, digital, orange, care economy).

Learning areas

As an intern in the Skills Branch, you will be exposed to a whole range of areas related to skills development and lifelong learning (LLL) while working specifically on communication. The work will entail tasks such as:

•    Support drafting communication plans and strategies for the Global Programme on Skills and Lifelong Learning under. 
•    Assist developing communication materials.
•    Assist in synthesizing key messages and other information into products (infographics, fact sheets, brochures, presentations, video and web-based materials, etc.) that can be disseminated to target audiences via established websites, knowledge sharing sites and social media platforms.
•    Collect, prepare and disseminate a selection of human interest stories on skills development highlighting, among others, good practices, effective strategies and innovations emerging from ILO’s work on skills development and lifelong learning. 
•    Provide creative support for internal and external communication efforts including print publications, electronic communication, community engagement, media and video productions.
•    Assist identifying and documenting best practices and lessons learned.
•    Support other initiatives on knowledge management and communication to promote visibility of ILO’s work on skills development.
•    Support conducting communication related trainings, workshops and other learning activities as well as support the development of communication manuals, templates and guides.
•    Participate in workshops and seminars and prepare reports and presentations.
•    Assist in other tasks related to communication.

Interns would be gaining experience also in working with specialists who are involved in providing technical backstopping to development cooperation projects.

Interns should expect to devote 10% to 20% of their time to administrative tasks.

Required profile

Education

First level degree in Communication, Journalism, Information Science, Economic or Social Sciences, Human Resource Development, Development Studies, International Relations or a similar field.

The candidate should be enrolled in their final year of graduate degree programme or should have completed such a programme no longer than 1 years ago (mandatory).

Experience

Relevant professional experience in communication, good knowledge of social media, communication apps, Word, Excel and PPP. 

Languages

Proficiency in English. In addition, the candidate should have excellent oral and writing skills in at least one of the other official languages of the ILO (French, Spanish). Other language abilities are an advantage.

Competencies

•    Good analytical and drafting skills.
•    Ability to produce high-quality written materials, including graphically based PowerPoint presentations as well as text documents.
•    Good communication skills and be able to work in a team.
•    Collaborative spirit, ability to work effectively in a team, being able to liaise with a wide range of people at all levels and across different cultures and to act with credibility and diplomacy.
•    Strong time management skills with an ability to plan ahead, anticipate; requirements, problems and obstacles, and an ability to juggle competing priorities successfully, and to work to tight deadlines.
•    Self-motivated and able to work with autonomy.
•    Ability to work in an international, a multicultural and multilingual environment with gender-sensitive and non-discriminatory behaviour and attitude.