Finance Intern

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, UNOPS Geneva supports in providing management and financial/programmatic oversight of global and country specific portfolios and clusters including hosting services, fund management, management advisory services, implementing projects, procuring goods and services and managing human resources.

The Geneva Office ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects.

RBM Partnership to End Malaria

The past fifteen years have seen tremendous gains in reducing the burden of disease and progressing towards malaria elimination. Since 2000, global malaria deaths have been cut by more than half, saving 7 million lives, primarily among children less than five years of age. Expansions in financing, strong political commitments, novel diagnostic and preventative measures, and multi-sectoral coordination have facilitated this progress. Since 1998, RBM Partnership to End Malaria has been central to the global fight against malaria. It has been essential to mobilizing resources and scaling up innovative interventions, putting the world onto a path towards eliminating malaria. The Partnership comprises more than 500 partners committed to end malaria, including malaria endemic countries, their bilateral and multilateral development partners, the private sector, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions.

The RBM Partnership's Vision is of a world free from the burden of malaria. The RBM Partnership is based in Geneva and hosted by UNOPS.

The internship is a learning and working opportunity that provides insight to the finance function in UNOPS. The  Finance intern will assist the Finance team  and provide support to the Finance Team in the RBM Secretariat. The intern will be exposed to practical learning and working experiences that foster development of his /her path. The Intern will work full time and follow the same working hours as UNOPS employees. Under the guidance and supervision of Finance & Grants Officer, the Finance Intern will be responsible for supporting a variety of  functional tasks and work packages, including but not limited to:

Expenditure control and monitoring

• Review the recorded transactions in the system by ensuring that expenditure is coded to the correct place and prepare corrective journals as needed. 

• Routine monitoring of financial expenditure for unusual activities, transactions and investigation of anomalies or unusual transactions.

• Regularly monitoring and tracking the balance sheet account balances, preparing the reversal journal entries and cleansing of the balancing figures  when assigned 

• Support in the tracking of all advances covering operational advances, petty cash, tax, pre-payments, advance financing etc ensuring timely reconciliation and settlement backed with complete supporting documentation.

• With guidance from the Finance and Grants Officer, the intern will support the review of requests for operational advances, ensuring complete documentation, review expenditures reports for settlement, clearance, and replenishment;

• With oversight from the supervisor, prepare the aged list of unliquidated obligations and agree on actions with the supervisor for further action.

Audit

• Support finance team during  expenditure verifications on tasks  as assigned  

• Support in reviewing and ensuring that all the transactions are supported by proper and sufficient supporting documentation.

• Support in liaising with different departments in collecting supporting documentation.

• Filing: Review and ensure maintenance of files including electronic filing system for all financial records and documentation.

Other

• Support the Finance department with administrative activities related to financial management as required.

• Overall Filling: Ensure maintenance of files, all financial records and documentation;

• Provides support on ad-hoc finance-related matters as needed and as assigned by the Finance and Grants Officer.  

Training components and learning elements

UNOPS highly values interns' contributions and appreciates the importance of learning during an internship. UNOPS thus provides a wealth of opportunities for on-the-job training, studying project-related documents, data analysis and preparation of reports and statistics. 

UNOPS encourages the intern to raise specific wishes regarding learning opportunities before and during the internship. S/he will have access to a large offering of online training on the comprehensive UNOPS intranet

Participation in missions or training courses

Exposure to UNOPS processes and activities; If mission travel is undertaken, Daily Subsistence Allowance, in accordance with UN policy

Additional comments

The internship comes with no expectations of future employment with UNOPS as a direct result of the internship. The internship is offered for 6 months. Candidates who are unable to commit to at least 6 months are requested to not apply.

Academic qualifications 

• Be enrolled in a university programme such as Bachelor, Masters or Ph.D. (or the equivalent) preferably in finance, economics, or an equivalent degree in related fields or have graduated from such studies within three (3) years prior to the application date of the internship.

Language Skills

• Fluency in written and oral English is required. French is an advantage.

Computer Literacy

• Working experience with ERP systems and Microsoft Office or Google Workspace is an advantage

Internship-related experiences

• Previous experience in a finance or an accounting department  will be considered as an asset

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

• Geneva, Switzerland is a family duty station.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.