Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)H (no hardship)
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeInternship
Target Start Date2023-07-10
Job Posting End DateJuly 25, 2023
Terms of ReferenceOrganizational context
The internship will be placed with UNHCRโs ASD Section, within the Division of International Protection (DIP). The ASD Section is responsible for overseeing and providing strategic support to UNHCRโs offices in countries around the world where UNHCR conducts refugee status determination (RSD) under its mandate. It is also responsible for drafting UNHCRโs country-specific policy guidance documents (eligibility guidelines, protection consideration, return advisories, etc.), which are used by States and by UNHCR staff to guide decisions on claims for refugee status. The Section also maintains Refworld (www.refworld.org), which contains legal and policy information.
The position
The intern will assist with research and analytic assignments as well as administrative tasks related to the management of the knowledge-sharing platforms that the ASD Section maintains, including Refworld, the worldโs leading platform for information that supports refugee decisions.
The intern will work directly with the team that produces country guidance and which commissions external reports on Country of Origin Information (COI). As such, the intern will be expected to contribute to drafting, analysis, and research related both to UNHCR country guidance and for use in formulating terms of reference for external COI reports.
Interns are supervised by the Associate Protection Research and Information Officer, but may report to different members of the Section in relation to specific tasks.
Duties and responsibilities
1. Research and Drafting:
โ Conduct country-specific research on the human rights situation in countries of origin;
โ Perform detailed editing and formatting, and provide comments on draft documents;
โ Engage with the rest of the Section to determine COI and country guidance priorities, including exploring possible areas of research or production;
โ Assisting with summarizing COI information, including drafting COI summaries and footnotes for ASD Section use.
2. OHDRG capacity building and training:
โ Improve OHDRG training products on COI research - develop and update toolkits and training materials for editors;
โ Manage query responses commissioned to OHDRG during the duration of the internship.
3. Information management:
โ Provide research in response to queries from UNHCR field offices related to specific caseloads and COI.
โ Contribute to the management and strategic expansion of knowledge-sharing platforms on RSD, in particular the RSD Practitionersโ Platform (RSD PP, an internal UNHCR Community of Practice for RSD staff) and the Global Case Law Collection Project, as well as to UNHCRโs strategic redesign of Refworld (www.refworld.org).
4. Attending and taking notes at meetings along with relevant UNHCR staff (e.g. Human Rights Council, UN Treaty Body sessions)
5. Any other tasks, upon request, including administrative duties.
Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required
The ideal candidate will:
โ Be a member of OHDRG;
โ Have experience working in a voluntary capacity on COI research for UNHCR;
โ Express a commitment to continue working on the UNHCR research panel within OHDRG going forward;
โ Be a recent graduate (recent graduates are to be considered those persons who completed their studies within one year of applying for an internship with UNHCR) or current student in a graduate/undergraduate school programme from a university or higher education facility accredited by UNESCO;
โ Have completed at least two years of undergraduate studies in a field relevant or of interest to the work of UNHCR;
โ Have excellent communication skills with strong interpersonal and negotiation skills;
โ Have good experience using the Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
โ Demonstrate a genuine desire to learn and develop;
โ Be highly organized and have good attention to detail;
โ Be able to multi-task and to prioritize;
โ Be a flexible team-player.
Desirable
โ Hold a coordination or review role within OHDRG;
โ Language skills (French, Spanish, Russian, or Arabic) are useful but not a requirement for internships with the ASD Section.
Location
The successful candidate will be based with the team at UNHCR HQ in Geneva, Switzerland. Obtaining and renewing current visas and residence permits including all associated costs, if necessary, are the responsibility of the intern. Successful candidates will need to provide proof of adequate medical insurance.
The internship is for six months, starting on 3 July 2022. It is a full-time role with working hours from 9 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday (40 working hours + 5 hours lunch break per week) and the intern will be eligible to receive a monthly stipend.
Allowance
Interns will receive an allowance to partially help to cover the cost of food, local transportation and living expenses.
To Apply:
(the operation does not need to fill this part, it will be filled afterwards by the sponsoring institution)
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.
UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing or training.
We welcome applications from candidates with a refugee or stateless background.
Standard Job Description
Required Languages English
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Desired Languages
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Additional Qualifications
Skills
Education
Certifications
Work Experience
Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance