Internship - Livelihoods Unit in the Division of Resilience and Solutions in Geneva, Switzerland

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INTERNSHIP
Internship in Livelihoods Unit in the Division of Resilience and Solutions at its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Duty station: UNHCR Geneva Switzerland (HQ)

Duration of the internship: 5 months and 6 days

Closing date:  07 June 2019

Start date: 24 June 2019

Organizational context

Background

The Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) call for the enhancement of refugee resilience and self-reliance and ease the pressure on host countries through a whole-of-society approach. Improving livelihoods through economic inclusion is a key component of achieving protection and solutions outcomes for refugees. Economic inclusion entails access to labour markets, finance, entrepreneurship and economic opportunities for all, including non-citizens in addition to vulnerable and underserved groups. Economic inclusion contributes to the self-reliance and resilience of refugees, empowering them to meet their needs in a safe, sustainable and dignified manner; avoids aid-dependency and negative coping mechanisms; contributes to their host economies; and prepares refugees for their future whether they return home, integrate in their country of asylum or resettle in a third country. Economic inclusion starts from the beginning of the refugee influx, and leveraging the provision of both humanitarian assistance and educational opportunities at this stage can lead to better outcomes for refugees in later phases of displacement. It is important to recognize that positive outcomes for livelihoods and economic inclusion require multi-year strategic planning.

The UNHCR Economic Inclusion and Livelihoods Unit in Headquarters is leading efforts in promoting economic inclusion for refugees. The Unit¿s areas of work include advocacy to foster an enabling environment that supports inclusion of refugees, providing technical support to field operations to build strategic partnerships with a broad range of actors including development actors, private sector, government agencies and civil society to facilitate access of refugees to market systems and decent work, and collecting livelihoods related information, good practices, and lessons learned to further help promote economic inclusion.  The Unit is now looking for an intern to support this work. 


The position

Responsibilities will include:
- Conducting research on initiatives, studies, articles, events, etc. related to refugees and employment and synthesize materials for use within the  Unit and sharing with the global livelihoods and economic inclusion network; 
- Contributing to building the institutional memory and coordination of the Unit through managing the internal filing system on Share Point, writing up minutes from relevant meeting and following up on agreed action points to ensure their completion, and tracking engagement with important NGO, private sector, humanitarian and development partners;
- Managing communication platforms, social media accounts and other knowledge sharing tools
- Managing ¿Coursera For Refugees¿ to provide access to certified, online training for UNHCR¿s persons of concern;
- Supporting the Unit with recruitments through managing the functional clearance process for specific assignments on request from country operations;
- Assisting with the scale up of the Graduation Approach and other initiatives
- Assisting in various day-to-day tasks.

The intern will:
- Be equipped with technical understanding of livelihoods and economic inclusion approaches to achieve  protection and solutions for UNHCR¿s population of concern;
- Learn about the Global Compact on Refugees and processes that affect economic inclusion  of forcibly displaced persons and how these interrelate
- Gain practical experience through providing support and communication with country operations
- Be exposed to different livelihoods and economic inclusion partner organizations;
- Acquire knowledge and skills related to project management.
- Gain understanding of and exposure in other areas of work of UNHCR

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

- Recent graduates (those persons who completed their studies within one year of applying) or current student in a graduate/undergraduate school programme from a university of higher education facility accredited by UNESCO; and

- Have completed at least two years of undergraduate studies in a field relevant or of interest to the work of the Organization.

- Candidates who have immediate relatives (father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister) working as staff members of UNHCR are not eligible.
- Excellent analytical skills;
- Demonstrated experience with project management; 
- Pro-active and excellent interpersonal and communication skills for a multi-cultural environment;
- Interest and preferably some experience working with humanitarian and/or development actors;
- Interest and preferably some knowledge of/experience with working in the area of livelihoods and economic inclusion;
- Excellent written and spoken English required, knowledge of another UN language an asset;
- Computer literacy (Word, Excel, Power Point) and knowledge of social media tools and online communication platforms

Conditions
Full time starting from 24 July 2019 until 31 December 2019. The intern will be based at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. This is an unpaid position and unfortunately UNHCR is unable to provide accommodation, travel, or health insurance for interns. Interns who do not receive financial support from an outside party will receive an allowance to partially cover the cost of food, local transportation and living expenses.

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. Please note that the closing date for applications for this internship advertisement is Wednesday 5 June 2019 (midnight Geneva time).