Project Support Intern

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations. 

UNOPS has established a Sustainable Investments in Infrastructure and Innovation (S3i) Office in Helsinki, Finland. The S3i Office is an integrated unit within UNOPS with a significant degree of operational independence. The S3i Office bolsters UNOPS’ current business model by enhancing UNOPS’ brand as an innovative player in inclusive infrastructure, providing forward-looking strategic advisory services to UNOPS’ existing clients, and drawing new partners from the private sector to expand UNOPS’ portfolio of initial investments while leveraging resources to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

The goal of S3i is to catalyze investments in sustainable infrastructure by developing, arranging, and investing in high-quality, socially and environmentally responsible, and commercially viable projects.  

• In the short-term, S3i provides financing for infrastructure projects best aligned with UNOPS’ mission, and provides project management, procurement, and ESG/Impact services on a fee basis.

• In the long-term, the S3i Office could bolster its self-sustainability by developing and scaling other revenue streams that would complement its investment and project management functions.  

In parallel to S3i’s infrastructure activities, S3i Innovation's goal is to advance innovation and private sector investment for sustainable development. By increasing focus on startups, investors and the private sector, the aim is to create opportunities with positive social, environmental and economic impacts by identifying grassroots challenges and turning them into innovation opportunities. S3i Innovation aims to develop frontier technology solutions driven by real market demand in order to close the gap between market needs and capacities.  

The Project Support Intern will support the S3i team on a wide range of processes and needs having hands-on practical daily work and operations as well as being on the front line with internal and external parties such as UNOPS colleagues in various business units. The Project Support Intern will be responsible for delivering the assigned tasks in a collaborative, timely and efficient manner. The intern will have great opportunities for learning and expanding knowledge and experience within the areas of finance, operations, partnerships, environmental, social & governance (ESG) risk and impact management as well as process improvements and system developments. 

Duties and Responsibilities will include: 

1. Finance and Operations Support:

• Assist with tracking and processing invoices and payments, creating journal entries as required;

• Assists the different teams on a wide range of tasks related to data collection, review and analysis;

• Assists with reporting of data; developing different dashboards; communicates with colleagues in areas requiring verification and additional information;

• Supports system development and process improvement initiatives; 

• Provides project management support and innovative solutions to project activities;

• Provides consistent support to office management needs as determined; and supports on ad-hoc matters.

• Provides support on other matters relevant to S3i operations.

• Participates in internal and external meetings, events related to partnerships and project operations. Assists with maintaining an updated database of partners and relevant materials;

• Assists with research and analysis with respect to ESG, Impact Management and Innovation industry developments, emerging standards and best practices for ESG/Impact data tracking and analysis;

• Assists with the development of various materials with respect to trainings, events, powerpoints, guidance notes and templates. Reviews supporting documents ensuring completeness and accuracy. Monitoring relevant external media news and updates as it relates to S3i’s project operations;

• Supports the S3i team in the development of S3i’s sustainability policies, ESG and impact standards, guidelines, benchmarks, data collection tools, best practices, and lessons learned;  

• Assists the S3i team on ESG risk management, mitigation strategies and opportunities;

• Assists the S3i team on integrity due diligence checks of potential partners.

Participation in training courses:

The intern will be able to participate in other trainings offered by UNOPS. Specific trainings of interest will be discussed with the intern upon arrival.  

The intern shall be trained to operate ERP, utilize reporting platforms, understand organizational KPI interpretation, etc.

Terms and Conditions:

The internship comes with no expectations of future employment with UNOPS as a direct result of the internship. The internship is offered for a period of 6  months with the possibility of extension up to 1 year.

1. Academic qualifications 

• Applicants must be enrolled in a university degree such as a Bachelor, Masters, or have graduated within three years prior to the application date of the internship.  

• The preferred candidate would have a degree in or pursuing studies in the areas of finance, economics, business, administration, computer science, international development, sustainability or other related areas. 

2. Language Skills

• Excellent writing and oral skills in English

• Desirable working knowledge of French and/or Spanish

• Knowledge of another official UN language is an asset 

3. Experience and Computer Literacy

• Applicants are not required to have professional work experience, but experience in writing and editing is desirable. 

• Experience in Office software packages (Word, PowerPoint) and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet (Excel).

• Experience in use of various data management systems, platforms and technologies is an asset.

• Experience in use of project management tools is an asset.

• Experience in use of Google Suite is an advantage.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.