Organization: UNWOMEN – United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Location: Nairobi
Grade: Internship – Internship
Occupational Groups:
Economics
Women’s Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
Closing Date: 2025-02-02
An overview:
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
Twelve Country Offices (COs), one program presence (Somalia), and assistance for eleven UN Country Teams (UNCTs) where UN Women is a non-resident agency (NRA) make up UN Women’s regional representation for East and Southern Africa (ESA). The Regional Office (RO) in Kenya is in charge of organizing and assisting with all. ESA is a complicated and varied region made up of sub-regions, some of which represent middle-income, generally stable nations, while others are made up of nations with poor governance that are vulnerable to cross-border crises.
The context of women’s economic empowerment in East and Southern Africa (ESAR) is still complicated and dynamic, supported by factors related to climate change, conflict, displacement, and fragility, as well as micro and macro level shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has had a detrimental impact on the region’s food systems, agricultural inputs, and basic commodity prices. Because of systemic gender inequality that existed before and during the crisis, women and girls have been disproportionately affected by these and still are.
The Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Program’s primary goals are to support women and girls in their innovations, social enterprises, and abilities to secure social, economic, and environmental assets and knowledge, as well as to increase access to high-quality livelihood opportunities and strengthen women’s economic autonomy. The Care Economy, Climate Resilient Agriculture, and a Fair Transition to the Blue and Green Economy are the three main areas of concentration for 2023. The third is women’s empowerment via the creation of decent employment, entrepreneurship, and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.
To complement the WEE portfolio, UN Women ESARO is looking to employ an intern.
Responsibilities
- Support the Policy Specialist to review/conduct economic empowerment related research from a gender economics perspective
- Support the Policy Specialist in programme management and implementation
- Support the Policy Specialist in various communications tasks such as writing position papers, talking points, website articles, developing social media posts, etc.
- Support the Policy Specialist on administrative tasks as required
Learning goals include:
- Enhanced knowledge on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
- Enhanced knowledge on gender and economics in development in Africa
- Enhance knowledge on the programmatic and operational aspects of working at UN Women
Competencies :
Core Values:
- Integrity;
- Professionalism;
- Respect for Diversity.
Core Competencies:
- Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
- Accountability;
- Creative Problem Solving;
- Effective Communication;
- Inclusive Collaboration;
- Stakeholder Engagement;
- Leading by Example.
Functional Competencies:
- Demonstrable knowledge of feminist/gender economics;
- Demonstrable Knowledge of development issues in Africa, preferably in East and Southern Africa;
Qualifications
Education:
- University studies in one of the following disciplines: feminist/gender economics.
- Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); or Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program which is part of a degree programme and undertake the internship as part of the program requirements.
- a) Be enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme (such as a master’s programme, or higher);
- b) Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (such as bachelor’s degree or equivalent);
- c) Have recently graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within two-years of graduation.
Language:
- Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English are required;
- Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.
Renumeration:
Interns who are not in receipt of financial support from other sources such as universities or other institutions will receive a stipend from UN Women to partially subsidize their basic living costs for the duration of the internship.
Diversity and inclusion:
At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.
If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.
UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)
How to apply
Simply click on the apply button, fill out of the form, upload your documents