Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)H (no hardship)
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeInternship
Target Start Date2023-07-01
Job Posting End DateJune 4, 2023
Terms of ReferenceUNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a full-time internship with the Financial Inclusion Unit of the Socioeconomic and Inclusion Service under the Division of Resilience and Solutions at UNHCR Geneva.
Established in December 1950, UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, internally displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. UNHCR currently operates in over 130 countries, using its long expertise to protect and care for millions.
Title: Financial Inclusion Intern
Duty Station: Geneva
Duration: 6 months
Contract Type: Internship
Closing date for application:
Start date: as soon as possible
Organizational context
UNHCR promotes the economic inclusion of refugees to enable them to become self-reliant and help ease pressure on host communities (as stated in objectives 1 and 2 of the Global Compact on Refugees). The Financial Inclusion Unit within the Socioeconomic Inclusion Service provides guidance and builds field capacities to advocate for an enabling environment and market opportunities for forcibly displaced populations to become financially included and benefit from access to and use of financial products and services – such as deposit accounts, payment and remittance services, credit, and insurance. The Unit is now looking for an intern to support this growing field of work.
The position
The intern will be a recent graduate or a current graduate in Economics, Development finance or related fields, with courses or experience in the area of financial inclusion.
The intern will:
- Gain understanding and practical experience of financial and economic inclusion approaches and programming for protection and solutions for forcibly displaced persons.
- Become familiar with and exposed to various areas of work of UNHCR and to global processes, such as the Global Compact on Refugees, relevant to protection and solutions for forcibly displaced persons.
-Be exposed to different partner organizations and have an opportunity to build a network of contacts;
- Acquire knowledge and skills related to project management in the context of forced displacement;
- Enhance knowledge in various areas related to refugee protection and solutions through participation in training and other learning opportunities.
Duties and responsibilities
• Support the development of country reports, factsheets, and other knowledge management materials on financial inclusion to identify and disseminate good practises to internal and external audiences.
• Support the implementation of cross-country mapping to identify financial service providers that are partners of UNHCR in financial inclusion to reinforce coordination with the work of UNHCR Cash Unit, as well as with the joint IFC-UNHCR hub;
• Provide online technical support for upcoming financial inclusion trainings and other learning events.
• Support work on financial inclusion pledges for the upcoming Global Refugee Forum.
• Support coordination with colleagues working on the Poverty Alleviation Coalition to identify good practises between the graduation approach in target countries and access to formal financial services in practise.
• Assist in the various day-to-day tasks.
Eligibility
To be considered for an internship, candidates must:
- be a recent graduate* or current student in a graduate/undergraduate school programme from a university or higher education facility accredited by UNESCO
- have completed at least two years of undergraduate studies in a field relevant to, or of interest to, the work of the organization; and
- not have immediate relatives (father, mother, brother, or sister) working for UNHCR as a staff member on any contract type or as an affiliate at the time of application.
*Recent graduates are considered to be candidates who completed their studies within two years of applying for an internship with UNHCR.
Desirable qualifications and skills
- Degree in Economics, Development finance, or related fields.
- Academic background or work experience in financial inclusion.
- Excellent written and spoken English required, knowledge of another UN language an asset.
- Excellent writing and editorial skills.
- Strong skills in social media and online communications tools/platforms.
- Pro-active, effective team player, with strong interpersonal and communication skills. easily adaptable to a multi-cultural environment.
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Conditions
It is a full -time role with working hours starting from 9.00am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week). The successful candidate will be assigned to support the team in Geneva.
Allowance
Interns who do not receive financial support from an outside party will receive an allowance to partially help to 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.
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