Intern - Sustainable Development Cluster

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. As partner countries develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners. www.undp.org

UNDP provides a range of services to governments and to United Nations teams in the field of Sustainable Development. UNDP helps countries to simultaneously reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development that leads to transformational change, bringing about real improvements in people’s lives. We promote an integrated approach to achieve sustainable development that tackles economic, social and environmental issues, while enhancing knowledge, skills and production technologies to reduce risks and sustain development gains. These services are geared to engage in global advocacy and analysis to generate knowledge, alliance building and promotion of enabling frameworks on key issues, policy advice and support for national capacity building, and knowledge networking and sharing of good practices.

The Sustainable Development Cluster seeks several interns to provide support in the following areas:

• Environment and Natural Capital (www.undp.org);
• Sustainable Development Group (www.undp.org);
• Equator Initiative (www.equatorinitiative.org).

The intern will be based in the New York office. Responsibilities may include but will not be limited to the following, as outlined below. Language skills are required. The intern will assist the hiring unit in all aspects of the work. S/he will report to the Program Manager and/or Program Officer.

Duties and responsibilities include:

• Gathering, analyzing, and synthesizing development-related data for use in documents, speeches, and briefings;
• Contribute to the writing of briefing notes and project documents;
• Support on sustainable development-based matters for outreach and partnership development;
• Attend any SDG specific meetings and events in the NYC area;
• Assist with the organization of meetings, conferences and events as necessary;
• Assist in translation efforts as necessary;
• In consultation with the team, develop an approach/template that aids in systematically generating, mapping and organizing resources/documents available through UNDP related databases as well as internet searches of environmental economic valuation/assessment studies and financial mechanisms;
• Populate the resource database(s), review and analyze resources/documents, and integrate the information into corporate internal and external platforms;
• Review and adapt international best practices to generate case studies across environmental, social, and economic themes;
• Support facilitation of substantive contributions to networks, knowledge building and knowledge sharing;
• Perform other tasks as required to support the work of the team.

Core competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s core values;
• Respects individual, gender and cultural differences in dealing with others;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Effective communications and computer skills (MS Office package, Internet research);
• Team worker who consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Detail-oriented, produces quality outputs in a timely manner when assigned a given task;
• Ability to remain calm, in control and good humored even under tight deadlines.

Education:

• Enrollment in a graduate-level degree programme at the time of application and during the internship is required;
• Master’s degree in development or environmental (or related) field in progress.

Experience:

• Interest in the fields of development and/or environment;
• Strong writing skills required;

Language:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset.

Working Hours:

• Full time, five days per week.

Application:

Interested candidates should apply by 12 August 2015. Your application should include a cover letter and resume. Please upload both as one document as the system does not accept more than one document.

Conditions for internships:            

• The UNDP internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship;
• The intern will need to provide proof of enrollment in health insurance plan and life/accident insurance;
• UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;
• 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 or for six months immediately following the expiration date of internship;
• Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity;
• Only those students who will return to their studies upon completion of their internship assignments are eligible.