The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

UNEP’s Early Warning and Assessment Division is responsible for analyzing the state of the global environment, providing early warning information, and assessing global and regional environmental trends to catalyze and promote international cooperation and action on the environment.

The internship is located in the UNEP’s Early Warning and Assessment Division, Nairobi duty station. This advertisement is seeking multiple interns to work in the Early Warning and Assessment Division. The duration of an internship is two months minimum; maximum is six months with a possibility for extension depending on the needs of the Organization.

The Internship is UNPAID and full-time. Interns work five days per week (35 hours) under the supervision of a staff member in the department or office to which they are assigned. Interns are not financially remunerated by the United Nations. Costs and arrangements for travel, visas, accommodation and living expenses are the responsibility of interns or their sponsoring institutions.

Responsibilities

Daily responsibilities will depend on the individual’s background; the office to which the intern is assigned to; the nature of specific projects and the internship duration. Duties may include, but not limited to:

1. Research and summarize science on environmental issues (including both hard and soft branches of science and innovations in science, trends, and scenarios in different countries).
2. Research environmental baselines and policy settings in project countries.
3. Draft analyses of and reports on existing scientific research and policy documents on environmental issues.
4. Organize and otherwise support meetings (e.g., notetaking, assisting in the management of participant travel, visitor management).
5. Map out science-based think tanks, educational institutions and other entities that are in the domain of environment and sustainable development.
6. Map out business opportunities and science-based innovations related to addressing environmental challenges.
7. Map best and internationally agreed environmental and social (E&S) safeguards towards the development of an E&S framework for promising innovative environmental solutions.
8. Assist in drafting project documents and develop technical documentation, guidance on tools and procedures for systems developed such as (for strengthening climate services and Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in countries).
9. Assist in establishing project document repositories.
10. Work with social media and assist in the development and dissemination of communication and outreach materials.
11. Support the collection and visualization of environment data.
12. Work with GEO/Spatial data and technologies.
13. Manage database update and indicator Accessibility.
14. Assist in updating content for the SDG Monitoring portal.
15. Assist with market research related to business opportunities related to addressing environmental challenges.
16. Support in financial and economic modelling.
17. Access relevant data sources for all countries in search of required data, download, format and upload these data files.
18. Process or analyse data in the files as required under the guidance of the Statistical Officer.
19. Statistical methodological research.
20. Assist with other related data and information work in the unit as instructed and guided.
21. Draft outreach and fundraising materials for public and private sector funding sources.
22. Assist in producing environmental and social safeguards analyses of business opportunities related to addressing environmental challenges.
23. Assist in the development of networks of science-based institutions.
24. Assist in the various stages of systems development, including developing, testing, implementing, and managing systems.
25. Assist in developing technical documentation and guidance on tools and procedures for systems developed in the unit.
26. Assist in the development of strategies for building science-policy capacities at national and regional levels.
27. Support scientific assessment processes in a variety of capacities.
28. Undertake other tasks as required by the office and in accordance with the intern’s background.
29. Assist in cleaning of data collected by web-scraping and other various means and sources.
30. Assist in labelling training data to provide meaningful and informative labels to provide context for an AI model.

Requirements

Applicants must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

a. Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher).
b. Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree program (minimum bachelor’s level or equivalent).
c. Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within one year of graduation.

Field of study: Degree in one or more of the sciences and /or a field relevant to the environment (for example, environmental studies, environmental economics, environmental assessments, environmental monitoring) and/or policy-making (for example, law, economics, business), Climate change and services, Ocean Science and Climate Science, Meteorology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, statistics, Computer Science, Information Technology, Communications (for example, journalism, public relations) Financial Economics and Library, Information or Knowledge Management. When filling out your online application, clearly note in your Cover Note, on which of the following areas you are interested in serving, by indicating your preference.

No working experience is required to apply for the United Nations Internship programme. Your training, education, advance course work or skills should benefit the United Nations during your internship.

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