Intern – Early Warning and Preparedness

Background

Multi-hazard early warning and preparedness supports the advancement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In particular, early warning systems are positioned as vital tools for decision-makers to progress towards sustainable development – supporting, for example, agricultural productivity, health, safety, overall well-being, poverty reduction and peaceful societies – providing cross-cutting benefits to nearly all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given coherence across global frameworks, the importance of early warning systems is also recognized within the Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the implementation of these agendas in turn expediting progress in achieving the SDGs.

UNDP plays an important and unique role in supporting countries to achieve their development goals by reducing loss to life and assets, and by strengthening long term resilience. The UNDP Strategic Plan 2022-2025 contributes to the resilience-building objectives of the 2030 Agenda by committing UNDP to help countries eradicate poverty in all its forms and expand people's choices for a fairer, more sustainable future. UNDP’s Crisis Offer outlines UNDP’s commitment to helping countries anticipate, prevent, respond to, and recover from crises.

For UNDP, early warning and preparedness embody a series of integrated anticipatory measures based on a comprehensive understanding of multidimensional risks, enabling individuals, communities, organizations and governments to make informed decisions about potential impacts and take timely and preventive action. Over the last decade, UNDP has been on the ground improving access to early warning services in over 90 countries and, since 2008, has mobilized investments of over USD $2 billion to support initiatives for early warning and preparedness, enhancing evidence-based decision-making to save lives. The principles, key actions and programmatic results of UNDP’s early warning and preparedness work are summarized in the UNDP Practice Note on Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Preparedness.

UNDP’s programmatic service offer for early warning and preparedness is focused on capacity strengthening of national and local stakeholders, institutions, systems and mechanisms with its development mandate. Among other services, UNDP is deploying its capacity development support through the UNDP Preparedness Learning Pathway and the UNDP Preparedness Toolkit, led globally by UNDP’s Crisis Bureau/ Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience Team (DRT) and based on cross-practice collaboration with a wide range of UNDP thematic teams across its Global Policy Network (GPN).

• The UNDP Preparedness Learning Pathway is a capacity development initiative that supports countries to enhance their institutional, strategic and operational capabilities for preparedness. The Pathway facilitates joint learning and knowledge exchange for and among decision-makers and practitioners from national and local authorities engaged in disaster preparedness as the primary audience, along with UNDP, UN entities and other relevant in-country stakeholders. The Pathway is built upon the UNDP Preparedness Toolkit, and it is delivered as a bespoke service upon demand. More information can be accessed by visiting the online Homepage, Brochure and Promotional Video.
  • The UNDP Preparedness Toolkit is an online interactive platform supporting national and local authorities, UNDP Country Offices and other in-country stakeholders in enhancing their institutional, strategic, and operational capabilities for preparedness, improving the speed and efficiency of their response, and applying foresight to be better prepared to cope with future risks, disasters and crises. The Toolkit is available in English, Spanish, French. To learn more about the Toolkit, please access the Brochure, Access guide and Promotional Video.

    This internship position is intended to support UNDP’s global work on early warning and preparedness as one of the key strategic work streams of the DRT Geneva, Switzerland. The intern will support the team with training development and rollout, knowledge management and communications tasks.

    Duties and Responsibilities

    Support the rollout of capacity development services related to preparedness

  • Undertake research and categorization of relevant resources to support the continuous update of the UNDP Preparedness Learning Pathway and UNDP Preparedness Toolkit, including collecting UNDP project examples, country case studies and guidance materials related to preparedness and anticipation;
• Support the organization of webinars for the rollout of the UNDP Preparedness Learning Pathway;

Undertake research and analysis on topics related to preparedness

Develop communications products on topics related to preparedness and cross-cutting themes

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Applicants to the UNDP internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

(a) Enrolment in a Master’s programme or equivalent in the area of disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, disaster management, environmental management, humanitarian affairs, international development;

(b) Have recently graduated with a university degree as defined in (a) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation;

(c) Be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program and undertake the internship as part of this program.

The applicant should be enrolled in a programme, as stated in requirements (a).

Languages:

Institutional and Management Arrangements:

The intern will be part of UNDP’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience Team in Geneva. The Internship will be carried out under the overall guidance of the Head DRT and Team Leader, and in close day-to-day consultation and supervision of Programme Specialist, Early Warning and Preparedness . The Intern will support timely delivery of the key tasks and deliverables as envisaged and any other relevent tasks as required.

The Intern will be responsible for organizing her/his own laptop and other IT resources to support the assignment and UNDP will not be responsible for meeting any expenditure incurred thereon including internet and other IT support services over the duration of the Internship.

Travel: The assignment does not entail or envisage any travel. However, depending on the need, any travel outside the regular place of stay (home/office) by the Intern, if required, would be paid for separately.

Application Procedure:

Conditions of the Internship:

In case an applicant is successfully selected, s/he will be requested to provide electronic versions of the following documents upon selection:

Application process:

Please combine the above into one single PDF document as the system only allows to upload one document.

Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.