Internship – Knowledge Management/Communications/Policy, Global Fund Partnership and Health Systems – Home-Based

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan. Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes.

HIV and Health Approach

UNDP is a founding cosponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a partner of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, a signatory of the WHO led SDG3 Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-Being for All, and a co-sponsor of several other international health partnerships. UNDP’s work on HIV, health and development leverages UNDP’s core strengths and mandates in sustainable development, governance, poverty reduction and climate. UNDP delivers support to countries in three areas of HIV and health: reducing the inequalities that drive disease, promoting effective and inclusive governance for health and building resilient and sustainable systems for health.  UNDP helps countries to mainstream attention to HIV and health into action on gender, poverty, governance, financing, and the broader effort to achieve and sustain the Sustainable Development Goals. UNDP works with partners to address the interactions between governance, human rights, and health responses, especially for those left behind.  UNDP also supports countries in effective implementation of complex, multilateral and multisectoral health projects, while simultaneously investing in capacity development so that national and local partners can assume these responsibilities over time. The UNDP/Global Fund partnership is an important part of this work, facilitating access to resources for action on SDG 3 by countries that face constraints in directly receiving and managing such funding.  UNDP partners with countries, WHO and other partners in responding to health emergencies and HIV and health dimensions of crisis/post-crisis situations.

As a long-standing partner of the Global Fund, UNDP’s value proposition lies in providing an integrated package of development solutions to strengthen institutions to deliver health services drawing on policy and technical support from other UNDP business units (e.g. data, digital, environment, climate). Through its contributions as interim Principal Recipient (PR) and provider of technical assistance to Global Fund grants in 53 countries since 2003, UNDP’s provision of integrated policy, implementation and capacity development support to countries has yielded significant health and development results in challenging operating environments.

Based on demand from Country Offices, and building on the relationships, expertise, systems, partnerships, including across the UN family, and comparative advantage established through the Global Fund partnership, the GPN/BPPS/Global Fund Partnership Health Systems Team (GFPHST) is providing support to Country Offices through three overarching modalities: 1) the Global Fund portfolio, 2) health system strengthening and 3) other health implementation support beyond the Global Fund, including Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), UNITAID and Smart Facilities. The GFPHST provides its support through a country team approach to strengthen and integrate the different functional capacities (e.g., capacity development, finance, monitoring and evaluation, procurement and supply management, programme, Sub-recipient management), leveraging technical and policy support from the HIV, Health and Development (HHD) Group, other GPN teams and Regional and Central Bureaus.

Objective:

Provide support to the Global Fund Health Team, HIV, Health and Development Group.

 

Duties and Responsibilities

The intern will undertake the assignments outlined below:

Expected Outputs:

• Support to the UNDP-Global Fund Partnership:
• Contribute to the team’s support to UNDP country offices implementing Global Fund grants.
• Track Global Fund policy developments and produce policy briefs and analysis for the Team and for UNDP Country Offices.
• Contribute to portfolio tracking, processing and analysis of portfolio and other data, results collection, reporting and visualization, impact analysis, surveys, etc.
• Provide assistance in carrying out research and in developing and facilitating knowledge products (brochures, case studies, thematic reports).
• Support the organization of events (meetings, workshops, etc.)
• Attend meetings with relevant Geneva-based international organizations such as the Global Fund, the World Health Organization, GAVI, UNAIDS, preparing briefs and reports accordingly as requested
• Undertake related tasks as assigned by the team

 

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional:

• Strong track record of research and writing skills;
• Knowledge of international public health, gender and/or human rights;
• Experience with data visualization;
• Editing skills are helpful; and
• Expertise in health and development issues.

 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Degree programme in public health, international relations/development studies or other relevant fields.
• Applicants to the UNDP internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:
• Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
• Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);
• Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.

Experience:

• Familiarity with the UN system, and/or other international organisations;
• Background in international development, global health, or other relevant field;
• Experience in public Health is an advantage;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment;
• Experience with web-based applications, data visualization software, Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) is required.

Languages:

• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required;
• Knowledge of another UN official language is an asset.

Reporting:

The intern will report to the Policy Specialist (Geneva), working on support to the UNDP-Global Fund Partnership Health System Team, as well as broader work on health and development as necessary.

Applicants available for a minimum of three months and up to six months are preferred. Applicants must state their availability.

Conditions of the Internship:

• As of 1 January 2020, Interns may be given a stipend according to the UNDP Internship Policies, if is not financially supported by any institution or programme, such as a university, government, foundation or scholarship programme,
• 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;
• 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.

In case an applicant is successfully selected, s/he will be requested to provide electronic versions of the following documents:

• Copy of the applicant’s most recent resume or curriculum vitae;
• Letter from his/her university confirming current enrollment and graduation date;
• Letter of recommendation from a professor;
• Copy of his/her school transcript;
• Copy of 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 (to be provided upon selection).

Application process:

This is a general call for internships for 2024/25. In your application, please (i) state in one paragraph why you would like to be considered for the internship, and (ii) indicate your preferred start and end date, as well as your availability timeframe in 2024/25 (3 to 6 months).

Please submit your CV/Resume and Combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Please Note that only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted