Intern for Information Management and Data Science

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP works through 136 country offices to provide development advocacy, advice and assistance to 166 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Arab States, Eastern Europe, CIS, Latin America and the Caribbean, working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Strategic Plan 2022-2025 will direct UNDP’s work with countries to expand people’s choices for a fairer sustainable future, to build the world envisaged by Agenda 2030. Nowhere is this more critical than in countries experiencing crisis, conflicts and fragility, home to 76.5% of the world’s extremely poor where all aspects of Agenda 2030 are at risk.

One of the areas of responsibility of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau is to ensure that UNDP is well positioned to anticipate and to respond in the timeliest and most effective manner to crisis, primarily regarding sudden onset crises and complex protracted crises, triggered by natural disasters or armed conflicts alike.  The Crisis Bureau’s Risk Analytics Hub provides crisis risk and early warning support to HQ and to Country Offices (COs) to address their needs in contextual risk analysis, programme adaptation and early action

To improve UNDP’s crisis risk analysis capabilities, the Crisis Bureau is exploring the targeted use of data science to harness new and emerging technologies such as machine learning / artificial intelligence and alternative data sources such as social media analytics and satellite imagery analysis, to support forecasting collective risks to human development (including risks of disasters, impact of climate change, risk of violent conflict and social unrest) in order to inform preventive action to mitigate the potential effects of crises on affected populations.

In support of UNDP’s engagement on the use of data science for crisis risk analysis and early warning, the Crisis Bureau is seeking an information management and data science intern to support the organization's early warning capacities, information gathering and management, and the development of machine learning tools and competencies.

Duties and Responsibilities

The intern will provide support to the early warning team in its information management and data science tools development activities, particularly related to the further development and operation of the Crisis Risk Dashboard (CRD), which is a data management and visualization platform to track crisis risks.

Information management and tools development support may include:

• Identifying additional data sources and manage data flows that support crisis risk analysis by engaging in data modeling and database development;
• Supporting the collection, management, and publishing of documents, data, information, and digital content, using UNDP’s content management systems;
• Developing customized applications and tools to strengthen CRD data collection, analysis and visualization capabilities;
• Contributing new ideas for improving the CRD in terms of the early warning data, and in terms of how the dashboard is used for effective crisis risk analysis;
• Identifying and documenting best practices for deploying Machine Learning and Advanced Analytics solutions;
• Other related duties as may be assigned by the Early Warning Programme Specialist.

Machine learning / artificial intelligence tools development support may include:

• Identifying new use cases for Machine Learning via Crisis Risk Dashboard applications
• Supporting the development of machine learning models applying structured and unstructured learning including but not limited to regressions, random forest models, clustering models, sentiment analysis, NLP (natural language processing) and Topic Modelling,
• Supporting deployment of Machine Learning tools on cloud instances
• Identifying Deep Learning solutions for unsupervised learning

The intern is expected to participate as an active member of the team and openly contribute his/her perspectives throughout the internship.

Competencies

Corporate:

• Commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and the UNDP Statement of Purpose;
• Demonstrated interest and motivation in the field of development;
• A desire to work with people with different language, national and cultural backgrounds.

Functional:

• Data modeling, data mining, programming and database design, and data visualization
• Data science / machine learning applications development and operation
• Design of interfaces, human-computer interaction modeling, and usability testing (UI/UX design basics)
• Knowledge of Deep Learning, Neural Networks, Reinforcement Learning
• Knowledge of Natural Language Processing, web-scraping and language classification
• Application of open source tools and technologies such as Python
• Application of deploying ML to cloud based instances (Azure Synapse,Datalake/Databricks)
• Attention to detail is crucial;
• Ability to work independently;

Responsible, responsive and enthusiastic.

Required Skills and Experience

Institutional arrangements:

• The intern will be part of UNDP’s upcoming Risk Analytics Hub in New York
• In the current context, the intern is expected to work from home, and/or a hybrid mode of home and office if based in New York
  • This is a full-time internship (five days a week between 9-5 AM EST NY).  The duration of the internship is three months, with the possibility of extension. The intern will be required to use their own electronic equipment.
• S/he will work under the direct supervision of the Information Management Specialist and under the overall strategic guidance of the Programme Specialist.

Conditions of internship

• As of 1 January 2020, Interns may be given a stipend in accordance with the UNDP Internship Policies, if the intern is not financially supported by any institution or programme, such as a university, government, foundation or scholarship programme; a stipend is intended to compensate for the cost of living at the duty station.
• Interns are responsible for securing adequate medical insurance for the duration of the internship. UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship.
• To travel to the duty station, the intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed.
• Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to, any post in UNDP during the period of the internship.
• Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity.
• The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment with UNDP but to complement an intern’s studies. Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship.
• The intern will be evaluated at the end of the contract and due recognition of work will be issued in writing.
• For more information about the application process and UNDP's internship terms and conditions, visit: www.undp.org/internships

How to Apply:

Applicants should send a cover letter, and CV through the online portal. Please note that only one document can be uploaded, therefore please combine the cover letter and CV all into one document.

Selected candidates will be contacted by email and will be asked to submit the following documents:

• Letter from his/her university confirming current enrollment and graduation date;
• Letter of recommendation from a professor;
• Copy of his/her most recent school transcript;
• Copy of national passport;
• Completed UNDP internship application form (to be provided upon selection);
• Signed UNDP Internship Agreement (to be provided upon selection);
• Medical Certificate of Good Health (to be provided upon selection);
• Proof of medical insurance coverage for the duration of the internship assignment (to be provided upon selection).

Kindly note the above documentation is required within one week after selection