Intern – Office of the Director-General (DGO)

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The WHO-hosted Secretariat for the “Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All” provides coordination and support functions for this initiative, which brings together the following 12 multilateral health, development, and humanitarian agencies to better support countries to accelerate progress towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)\: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (the GFF); The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund); the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS);United Nations Development Fund (UNDP); United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); Unitaid; United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women); the World Bank Group; WorldFood Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although each agency has a specific mandate, the agencies as a group complement each other. Together, the agencies work to advance all of the SDG 3 targets and collectively channel approximately one-third of development assistance for health annually.

Under the Global Action Plan, the agencies are better aligning their ways of working to reduce inefficiencies and provide more streamlined support to countries. Through the plan, the agencies will support countries to deliver on the health-related SDGs and related international commitments to health, such as the UN High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage and the Astana Conference on Primary Health Care.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

Terms of reference

Under direct supervision of the Secretariat coordinator, the intern will support the delivery of the activities of the WHO-hosted Secretariat for the “Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All” as follows\:

• Support the development of guidance documents, implementation toolkits, and communications outputs

• Support research, and the drafting, formatting, and editing of documents and materials, including meeting reports, policy briefings, presentations, guidelines, toolkits

• Gather and support the analysis of data for reporting purposes

• Assist in organizing meetings, events, briefings

• Support the day-to-day work of the Secretariat

  Learning objectives

• To understand the objectives of the “Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All” and its implementation

• To understand the difference in the mandates and work between different multilateral agencies, and the difference in work between WHO headquarters, regional, and country levels

• To gain an understanding of the global health multilateral system and the collaboration strategies promoted through the “Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All”

INTERNSHIP PERIOD\:

13 January to 26 June 2020(24 weeks)

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential\: Have completed three years of full-time studies (bachelor's level or equivalent) at a university or equivalent institution prior to commencing the assignment; AND be enrolled in a course of study at a university or equivalent institution leading to a formal qualification (applicants who have already graduated may also qualify for consideration provided that they apply for the internship within six months after completion of their formal qualification).

Desirable\: Bachelor degree in Public Health, Political Science, International Relations, or related field of studies.

Skills

Core competencies

• Team work
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural difference
• Communication

All interns should be able to demonstrate the following skills in line with the WHO core competencies\:

• Communicating effectively orally and in writing
• Showing willingness to learn from mistakes
• Producing and delivering quality results
• Working collaboratively with team members

In addition, interns need to be familiar with commonly used computer programmes, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint..

Experience

• Experience in research and/or in drafting reports
• Experience in the subject area through practical work or research
• Field and/or developing country experience

Languages

• Essential\: Expert knowledge of English.
• Desirable\: Intermediate knowledge of French. Intermediate knowledge of other UN language.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Interns do not receive a salary. They do however receive a stipend. The stipend depends on the duty station and other external support (grant, scholarships, etc.) received by the intern. In Geneva, the maximum amount of the stipend provided by WHO is 1728 USD per month. The exact amount of the stipend will be calculated for each intern, after selection, based on a financial disclosure form that they will complete. In addition, all interns in Geneva will receive a daily lunch voucher of a value of CHF15 to be used on WHO campus during the working days. WHO is also providing all interns with an accident and medical insurance coverage.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• Please note that internships at WHO are very competitive and only a small number of applicants will be accepted every year. Only successful candidates will be contacted.
• Living abroad is expensive and finding accommodation can be challenging. All intern candidates should be aware of these factors before they consider applying for a WHO Internship.
• If selected for a WHO Internship, candidates will be required to provide certified copies of proof of enrolment in a course of studies and a medical certificate of fitness for work.
• Interns are not eligible for appointment to consultant positions in WHO for a period of three months following the end of the internship. However, no such restrictions apply to temporary or longer term staff positions if the vacancy has been advertised and a competitive process completed.