Drug Control and Crime Prevention Intern

Role Overview

This internship places you inside the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea (GARS) team of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Maritime Crime Programme, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Day to day, you will support senior professional staff by drafting briefing materials, coordinating logistics for regional workshops and high-level meetings, and maintaining the team’s financial and procurement tracking systems. The work directly underpins UNODC’s capacity-building efforts with states across East Africa to combat maritime crime, so your contribution helps keep programme operations accurate, organised, and on schedule.

Key Responsibilities

• Draft and edit background papers, presentations, talking points, meeting summaries, and speeches for programme staff and senior officials.
• Provide logistical and administrative support for technical assistance workshops, training events, conferences, and high-level diplomatic meetings.
• Attend internal and external meetings, take structured notes, and circulate actionable summaries to relevant colleagues.
• Translate programme documents and outreach materials between Somali and English, and support reverse translation as needed.
• Maintain an up-to-date Excel-based grant tracker covering programme budgets, expenditure, implementation timelines, balances, reporting deadlines, and follow-up actions.
• Manage a consolidated procurement tracker that records all ongoing and planned purchasing processes, ensuring no step is missed.
• Undertake additional tasks assigned by supervisors that align with the team’s operational priorities.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent or higher), or be in the final academic year of a first university degree (minimum bachelor’s level), or have graduated from either programme within the past academic year.
• Submit official proof of enrolment or graduation from the university directly with the application.
• Demonstrate strong computer literacy in standard software, especially MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and MS Teams.
• Show a genuine interest in the work of the United Nations and a personal commitment to the principles of the UN Charter.
• Display proven ability to interact respectfully and productively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds and to remain open to differing views.
• Have a study background closely related to the areas covered by this internship, such as international relations, law, development, criminology, public administration, or a related social science field.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required; knowledge of Somali is highly desirable, and another official UN language is an advantage.

What We Offer / Why Join

This is an unpaid, full-time internship (40 hours per week, five days per week) lasting for six months, and you must be available to work in person in Nairobi. You will be directly supervised by professional staff within the Global Maritime Crime Programme, giving you practical exposure to UN operations, maritime security governance, and international cooperation in East Africa. While no remuneration is provided, the role offers valuable hands-on experience in a United Nations regional office, working alongside specialists who advise states on countering maritime crime in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea region.