Country: Thailand
Closing date: 07 May 2017
Org. Setting and Reporting
The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is the UN Secretariat department responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to complex emergencies and natural disasters. OCHA also ensures that there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort.
Situated within OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP), ReliefWeb-Bangkok office aims to provide reliable disaster and crisis updates and analysis to humanitarians by: collecting information from more than 4,000 global information sources around the clock; delivering content which is most relevant to ReliefWeb's global audience, includes country and disaster reports, maps, info-graphics, job announcements and learning opportunities thereby; enabling humanitarian partners to analyze context and situations and make better decisions.
This internship will be based in Bangkok, Thailand, and the intern will be under the general guidance and direct supervision of an Editorial Assistant with a direct reporting line to the Head of Reliefweb-Bangkok office. The internship is being offered for a minimum period of three (3) months, with a possibility of extension up to a maximum period of six (6) months, with a flexible start date.
Responsibilities
The intern will support OCHA in fulfilling its mission to coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors; advocate the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention; and facilitate sustainable solutions.
The ReliefWeb Training section is relevant to users who are seeking learning opportunities offered by organizations that support humanitarian activities, and its learning platform is based on Drupal, with content served via an application programming interface (API).
In general, the intern shall help with evaluation and implementation options for the visual redesign and functional revamp of Training section website at: reliefweb.int/training. Daily responsibilities will depend on the individual's background and duties may include but are not limited to helping with creation of an attractive, high quality responsive designs for multiple languages, to ensure the technical feasibility of user interface (UI)/ user experience (UX) design options; supporting the creation of design artifacts in various levels of fidelity from wire-frames to polished visual design and detailed specifications; participating in all phases of the product development life-cycle, including product ideation and definition, UI design, and user research and testing; helping to develop new user-facing features and create prototypes of the new training section, including features such as a humanitarian calendar and ‘related content’ from other sections of the site; assisting in producing wire-frames, user flows and/or concept note for planned mobile applications; collaborating with other team members and stakeholders on interaction design and visual design; helping to assure that all user input is validated before incorporation in the back-end; assisting with maintenance of coding documentation and consistency in following best practices; supporting with redesign of training submission form and collaborating to help improve posting workflow; and performing other tasks requested by supervisor, as appropriate.
Competencies
COMMUNICATION: speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed. TEAMWORK: works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings. TECHNOLOGICAL AWARENESS: Keeps abreast of available technology; understands applicability and limitations of technology to the work of the office; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; shows willingness to learn new technology.
Education
To qualify for an internship with the United Nations Internship Programme, applicants must meet one of the following requirements:
- Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); or
- Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent); or
- Have graduated with a university degree and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation from an academic programme.
Applicants who are unable to start the internship within a year of graduation date shall not be accepted.
The University degree must be in the area of political science, social science, geography, business administration, information technology, information systems, mobile development or in a related field.
Work Experience
Applicants are not required to have professional working experience for participation in the Programme though any academic and/or practical experience in humanitarian affairs issues including humanitarian financing mechanisms, humanitarian funding trends, gender equality programming is desirable. Familiarity with HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript is essential. Understanding of UI design, UX and information architecture and familiarity with developing user flows and mobile UI/UX would be an advantage. Knowledge of content management systems is desirable, as is the ability to understand business goals and the target audience. Familiarity with data management (e.g. Excel) and/or content management tools (e.g. Drupal) would be an asset.
Applicants should be computer literate in standard software applications; have a demonstrated keen interest in the work of the United Nations, a personal commitment to the ideals of the Charter and; have a demonstrated ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which includes willingness to understand and be tolerant of differing opinions and views.
Languages
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this internship fluency in English (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of the other would be an asset. Knowledge of another United Nations official language, Spanish in particular, is desirable.Assessment
Candidates will be assessed based on their Personal History Profile (PHP). Individual interviews may be conducted by the Hiring Manager directly for further consideration. A complete online application (e.g. cover note and PHP) is required. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. The cover Note must include:
-Title of degree you are currently pursuing;
-Graduation date (when will you be graduating from the programme);
-IT skills and programmes in which you are proficient;
-Explanation why you are the best candidate for the internship position.
In your PHP, be sure to include all past work experience, if any; IT skills and three (3) references. Due to high volume of applications received, ONLY successful candidates will be contacted.
How to apply:
Please send in your application via the UN Careers website. If you do not have an existing account, you will need to register here.
Link to internship opening: https://careers.un.org/lbw/jobdetail.aspx?id=73901